Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho has astonishingly turned his back on the national team and confirmed that he will no longer be watching their matches or cheering the likes of Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo or wonderkid Endrick on at this summer's Copa America.
Ronaldinho continued his stinging criticism of the national team this week and claimed that "everything is missing" compared to the superstars of yesteryear, before the 44-year-old took to Instagram to lash out at the current setup.
Ronaldinho won the 1999 edition of Copa America, three years before an iconic World Cup victory in South Korea and Japan, as he laid into the current team before promising to avoid their games following a recent 1-1 draw with the USA.
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"That's it folks, I've had enough," Ronaldinho wrote on Instagram. "This is a sad moment for those who love Brazilian soccer. It's getting hard to find the spirit to watch the games. This is perhaps one of the worst teams in recent years, it has no respectable leaders, only average players for the majority.
"I've been following football since I was a kid, long before I thought about becoming a player, and I've never seen a situation as bad as this. Lack of love for the shirt, lack of grit and the most important of all: football.
"I'll repeat, our performance has been one of the worst things I've ever seen. Such a shame. I therefore declare my resignation. I will not watch any CONMEBOL Copa AmericaTM game, nor celebrate any victory."
It was a statement echoing his recent thoughts given to Brazilian YouTube channel "Cartoloucos" in which the former Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan superstar declared "things are not going well" during a nine-minute video.
"Grit is lacking, dedication is lacking, everything is lacking," Ronaldinho explained. "Everything is missing, drive, joy... They need to play well, so I'm not going to watch any games. I'm going to abandon Brazil."
Brazil have won just two of their last eight matches, victories coming against Mexico and England, having struggled against South American opposition heading into this summer's tournament.
Dorival Jr's team are joined by Costa Rica, Paraguay and Colombia in Group D but enter the tournament far from favourites, with reigning world champions Argentina seen as the likelier side to build on their success in Qatar with another trophy.
