Barcelona star Neymar has given his view on Cristiano Ronaldo’s sending off against Cordoba at the weekend.
The Brazilian appeared alongside Barca’s economic Vice-President Xavier Faus at a promotional event, where he was asked for his take on Ronaldo’s dismissal for kicking out at and then slapping defender Edimar.
“I don’t know how long his ban should be as I don’t work for the Competition Committee,” he told assembled reporters.
“It’s their decision and I only think about my own team, about how we play and train, so I don’t like talking about other teams if they don’t talk about us.
“It’s easy for those that weren’t there to talk about it but all players are subjected to different things and sometimes we deal with it,”
“It’s bad and is a negative thing, although we can’t do what he did so I think he needs to be punished.
“It’s hard because there might be provocation, like happened to [Zinedine] Zidane or to me, and you need to work on that in your own mind.
“There should be more protection from the referees, not just for me but for everyone. I think they should clamp down on tough play. It’s the referee who is able to look after the players.”
Neymar was also invited to comment on Johan Cruyff’s recent remarks that it could be dangerous for the Blaugrana to have two main men in the dressing room, in reference to Lionel Messi.
“I respect Cruyff’s opinion and I think he was one of the best players in the world, but he’s wrong.
“We are getting better all the time and this is just the start. We can do so much. I respect Messi and I’ll always respect him. Of everyone I’ve seen play Messi is the best,” he maintained.
