Neymar apologizes after slapping the Brazilian legend’s son
football
Express newspaper
04/05/2026 20:00
Frustrated Brazilian star Neymar reportedly slapped and tripped his 18-year-old Santos teammate Robinho Jr during a training clash.
The son of former Manchester City and Real Madrid star Robinho has reportedly angered Neymar after he dribbled past him in training.
According to a report from Brazilian media outlet Globo, Neymar did not take Robinho Jr’s behavior well, especially after he told the teenager to “take it easy.”
The pair are said to have initially pushed each other, before Neymar is accused of slapping and obstructing the young man.
Both left the training session as a result of the incident.
This wasn’t even a first-team clash.
Neymar and Robinho Jr had been part of a reserve training session after being left out of Santos’ squad for their match against Palmeiras, ahead of their Copa Sudamericana match against Paraguayan side Recoleta.
According to the report, Robinho Jr’s representatives have complained about the incident to the Santos club president.
Sure, Neymar is the club’s “golden chicken,” but at 34, he’s no longer as “golden” as he once was.
He looks increasingly unlikely to be called up to the World Cup this summer and Carlo Ancelotti has left him out of recent games, which has disappointed fans.
The situation was resolved within the club after Neymar apologized to Robinho Jr, admitting that he had been at fault for the incident.
Neymar and Robinho Jr are said to have a close relationship, which has been compared to a “godfather and godmother”.
Perhaps precisely because they are so close, it is understandable how things could have gotten out of control.
Before Neymar, Robinho was undoubtedly Brazil’s future hope and shone during his time at Real Madrid.
Now, the striker, who has played 100 times for the national team, is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for rape.
He was arrested in 2024, despite having initially been found guilty of gang rape and sentenced in Italy in 2017.
He was one of six men found guilty of attacking an Albanian woman in a nightclub in Italy in January 2013, but a Brazilian court ruled that Robinho should serve the sentence handed down in Italy in his own country.
He has continued to protest his innocence and claims that the victim had participated in a consensual orgy after being intoxicated with vodka./Express newspaper/
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