Ronaldo: Cowardly that Neymar has to choose

A special centenary event of the Copa America will take place in June, hosted by the United States, while Brazil's Under-23 team will compete at Rio. Neymar is expected to only be allowed to play in one of those tournaments, with Barcelona wanting one of its star forwards to have a decent break during the off-season.

Neymar and Ronaldo.

Brazil great Ronaldo says it is "cowardly" that Neymar has to choose between playing at the Copa America or the Rio 2016 Olympics later this year.

A special centenary event of the Copa America will take place in June, hosted by the United States, while Brazil's Under-23s will compete at the Olympic Games in August as the host nation. 

Neymar is expected to only be allowed to play in one of those tournaments, with Barcelona wanting one of its star forwards to have a decent break during the off-season.

However, Ronaldo believes it is wrong that Neymar has to pick which competition he wants to play in. "This situation is very difficult for the player," the World Cup winner said during the presentation of his new school of football, the Ronaldo Academy."

"I think it's cowardly that he has to choose what competition he wants to play in. What we see is few care about the calendar, and we see more games and more competitions, and the players have less vacation time."

Asked which competition he would choose to play in, Ronaldo said he would prefer to fight for Brazil's first gold medal in football at its home Olympics.  

"I would opt to play in the Olympics," the 39-year-old added. "It would be something unheard of if they could get a gold medal at the Games in Rio. I don't know what the situation is like, but ideally, how wonderful it would be for Neymar to tell that story."