Neymar: I was racially abused

BRAZIL striker claimed he was racially abused by fans during his team’s international friendly against Scotland in London yesterday.

Neymar scored both goals in a 2-0 win but told Brazilian television channel Sportv, fans threw a banana at him toward the end of the second half.

“They were jeering me a lot…this atmosphere of racism is totally sad,” he said.

Team-mate Lucas Leiva reportedly picked up the banana but coach Mano Menezes said he was unaware of the incident after the match.

For his part, Craig Levein insists he took some pleasure from yesterday’s game despite seeing his side outplayed for most of the 90 minutes.

Neymar gave Brazil the lead just before the break and in the 76th minute the 19-year-old Santos striker was fouled by Scotland midfielder Charlie Adam inside the box before picking himself up to score from the spot.

The Scotland boss said: “I enjoyed it, I did.

“One thing is for certain, we won’t have any tougher friendlies than that, that’s for sure. I think we can play better, anyone who watches our players knows that.

“But for me this week has been about getting the players together and developing a team mentality and that showed today and we have to take in to account the quality of opposition.’’ Brazil coach Mano Menezes seemed unsure about the alleged Neymar incident, saying: “If it happened that would be lamentable but it has not been confirmed yet.”

However, Menezes believes Neymar, who has been linked with Chelsea, would improve if he moved to England but would be a loss to the fans in Brazil.

“I think that could only be good for Neymar as it would be a confirmation of his development,” he said

“English football would make him stronger.’’