Neymar Apologizes After Training Ground Incident with Robinho Jr.

SAO PAULO — Neymar has issued an apology after a training-ground flashpoint with Santos teammate Robinho Jr., an episode that threatens to drag his already faint World Cup hopes even further out of reach.

The 34-year-old forward, battling time, form and fitness to stay in Brazil’s plans for 2026, found himself at the center of an unwanted storm this week when Robinho Jr. — the 18-year-old son of former Seleção star Robinho — alleged he had been slapped by the veteran during a Santos training session.

The claim lit up dressing rooms, TV debates and social media in equal measure. A prodigy of a previous generation, accused of striking the prodigy of the next.

Neymar moved quickly to apologize, seeking to cool a situation that had started to spill beyond the club’s walls. Details of the confrontation remain limited, but the incident lands at a delicate moment in his career, with national-team contention already hanging by a thread.

For a player who once carried Brazil’s hopes almost single-handedly, the margins now are brutally thin. One more controversy. One more mark against his name. And a World Cup place that was distant to begin with drifts a little further away.