Neymar: Brazil forward apologises to Santos team-mate Robinho Jr for slapping him

“I did overreact, yes, in the way I reacted. It could have been different but I ended up losing my head,” added Neymar.

“Everyone makes mistakes. It was my mistake, his mistake, I made a slightly bigger mistake.

“He’s a boy I like very much, for whom I have a special affection. It happens in football – you argue with your friend, your brother.

“That’s football, it’s part of the game.”

Robinho Jr said Neymar “realised straight away that he’d gone too far” and apologised “several times” for the altercation.

“It was a situation that upset me because [Neymar] has been my idol since I was a child,” he added.

“People around us say a lot of things that aren’t true and it’s sad to see it blow up to this level.

“But I’m fine, I like him a lot. We’ve already talked and it’s all sorted.”