Tite brings Neymar to tears with news conference praise
The world's most expensive player has made a fine start to life at Paris Saint-Germain on the pitch since his record-breaking move from Barcelona during the transfer window, but he has also made headlines for negative reasons.
He is reported to have a poor relationship with PSG coach Unai Emery, as well as attacking partner Edinson Cavani, with whom he had a mid-game row about who would take a penalty, while he was sent off in the draw against Marseille last month.
Neymar missed from 12 yards and also scored from the spot as Brazil beat Japan at Lille's Stade Pierre-Mauroy, after which Tite leapt to the 25-year-old's defence.
"If you let me, I want to comment on Neymar," Tite told a news conference, with Neymar welling up as his coach spoke next to him.
"We have been working together for a year and a half, and I'm tired of hearing that Tite has problems with Neymar - because of his enormous character, of his influence in the dressing room.
"We are not perfect, we are human beings and sometimes we react in the wrong way.
"It happened to me in my career, is it wrong? There are a number of circumstances to take into account and we must be careful not to generalise.
"We should be talking about the character, the nature and the great heart that Neymar has."
pic.twitter.com/KJAIuzaQHC
— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) November 6, 2017
Neymar himself hit out at media reports about his relationship with Cavani and Emery at PSG.
"They are inventing a lot of stories that are not true," Neymar said. "I don't have any problems with my trainer and neither with Cavani."
Tite was satisfied with his team's performance against Japan, ahead of another friendly against England at Wembley on Tuesday.
"The mechanics take a little time to engage, but even with the modifications we had fluency and performance," Tite said.
"The most important thing is not achieved, but deserved. Especially in the first half, the team had a great performance."