Thiago Silva angry with Neymar over captaincy snub

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The Paris Saint-Germain defender admits he has been left “hurt” and said his successor hasn’t once spoken to him about the issue.

Thiago Silva has revealed his anger at Neymar after losing the Brazil captaincy to the Barcelona star.

The Paris Saint-Germain defender led his nation at the World Cup, but a humiliating 7-1 semi-final defeat to Germany and 3-0 loss to Netherlands in the third place play-off has seen new coach Dunga hand Neymar the armband.

Silva has not played for Brazil since the tournament over the summer, with the Selecao recording five clean sheets in his absence, and the centre-back admits he is far from happy with his current situation and his compatriot for his lack of empathy.

“Sincerely, I didn’t expect this,” Silva said at a press conference ahead of Brazil’s friendly with Austria on Tuesday.

“I would be lying if I said it didn’t annoy me. It feels like something was taken away from me that was mine. It’s painful and makes me sad.

“Especially because no one has come to talk to me about this. Neymar didn’t approach me.

“But I think we must be prepared for everything, somehow, even if I thought I was going to come and play. 

“I have to be ready to be on the bench also. We have quality players, like David Luiz and Miranda, so I knew that it was going to be hard, but I didn’t expect to be dropped. But it’s part of football and I’m ready to fight for my place back.”

Chelsea defender Filipe Luis, meanwhile, had glowing words for Dunga, who has named the left-back in his starting XI for every game of his second spell in charge of the Selecao so far.

“I talked a lot with my team-mates. We are delighted with this type of training because the intensity required is always very high, we are always on training and on the game,” he said.

“So this type of training helps us to improve a lot and work on the way that we play with our team-mates. 

“You start to know your team-mates better on the field. So, we are very happy because they are requiring the maximum from us.”