Tite Issues Strong Rebuttal On 'Lies' Around Jesus Injury
Brazil manager Tite has issued a strong rebuttal to refute reports he played Gabriel Jesus despite the Arsenal striker carrying an injury against Cameroon.
Jesus has been ruled out of the rest of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar after suffering a knee injury against the Africans.
"I don't like hearing lies, evil lies, those [come from] the people who want to do bad things for others," Tite said.
"At no time whatsoever do we play for victory at the risk of peril for a player, so the liars that are out there, the haters, who keep giving hate, go and do something else and stop giving fake news.
"Arsenal have a great medical department, we have a great medical department. We are responsible, ethical.
"It's a shame, very sorry for Gabriel. [On Saturday] we had Neymar, Thiago [Silva] and Marquinhos chatting with him and then Telles.
"We then added [assistant coach] Cesar [Sampaio] who has also had this experience. It was not to take the pain away but just to make them feel better, strengthen them and for them to be able to participate as much as possible."
Sampaio, who featured at the 1998 World Cup for Brazil, added: "At no moment were we made aware of an injury. We will never put health at risk for a result.
"Injury is difficult in an athlete's career, regardless of when it happens. We feel fragile when we cannot do what we love, especially at a World Cup.
"We spent time to give them support, we do not know what we have ahead of us but regardless of not being with us physically, they are with this team."
Brazil will meet South Korea in the round of 16 on Monday.
Jesus' injury will also be of concern to Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, with the Gunners set to return to Premier League action later this month.
