Barcelona president a joke, says Neymar
Neymar labelled Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu a “joke” as the war of wards between Barcelona’s beleaguered board and the Brazilian star continued.
In interviews with Catalan newspapers Mundo Deportivo and Sport, Bartomeu claimed Barca would be better off without Neymar this season following his world record 222 million euro move to Paris Saint-Germain. He described the loss of Neymar as an “opportunity” for Barca to rebuild their midfield rather than pile resources into a superstar front three of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
Bartomeu also criticised Neymar and his father and agent Neymar Sr’s exit strategy. “This president is a joke,” Neymar replied in a comment about the news on social media site Instagram.
FIFA have confirmed that teams will be seeded when the soccer governing body makes the draw for the play-off round in the European World Cup qualifiers, avoiding a potential clash between Portugal and Italy.
The winners of the nine European groups go directly to Russia next year while the best eight of the nine runners-up play off over two legs for a further four spots. and Brazil shared a 1-1 draw in a hard-fought draw World Cup qualifier after Radamel Falcao’s secondhalf header cancelled out Willian’s stunning first-half volley on Tuesday.
Colombia have still never beaten Brazil in a World Cup qualifying match but this marked the first time in 10 games that Brazilian coach Tite has come away from a qualifier with anything other than all three points. Brazil have already qualified for the finals in Russia next year and the result kept the Colombians in second place behind them with two matches remaining.
Uruguay, who play Paraguay later on Tuesday, are in third,