Ronaldo slams Neymar for Colombia red-card even as Ronaldinho sees great future in him

New Delhi: Despite making headlines for all the wrong reasons, Neymar has found his share of backers in former Brazil international Ronaldinho. The former Barcelona star has claimed that Neymar will soon become the best footballer on the planet.

After winning an European treble with Barcelona, Neymar found himself under severe criticism for an off the ball send-off during Brazil's group C match against Colombia in the ongoing Copa America tournament.

The 23-year-old seemed to have lost his composure after losing 0-1 to their South American neighbours and kicked the ball to Colombia’s Pablo Armero. He then approached Jeison Murillo to head-butt him, which ended with a red card. Neymar, reportedly, also used cuss words towards match officials.

Following the incident, Brazil legend Ronaldo has hit out at the captain's demeanour, saying Neymar is acting very aggressively and also not accepting anything that happens.

However, Ronaldinho got words of encouragement, and the Queretaro​ player was quoted ​by Eurosport as saying, "Very soon Neymar will transform into the best footballer in the world. I am going to encourage him to reach this target. If he doesn't do it this year, it will be very soon."

In an exceptional season, Neymar scored an incredible 55 goals in 63 games for club and country. But he will miss Brazil's next game against Venezuela on Sunday after receiving a provisional one-match ban for the sending off.

But he could still serve longer suspension after the South American Football Confederation review the case on Friday.

Five-time world champions Brazil had earlier beaten Peru 2-1 in their tournament opener.