Neymar to play soccer at Rio Olympics

La Liga giants Barcelona say striker Neymar will play for Brazil at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games but will skip the Copa America.

The news was announced by the Catalan club after it trounced Deportivo La Coruna 8-0 in the Spanish league on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).

Neymar scored one of the goals for Barcelona, who maintained their lead over Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid with four rounds to go.

Neymar had said he wanted to play in both tournaments and the Brazilian soccer confederation had asked for his release. But Barcelona didn't want to lose the striker for so long.

Clubs are not obliged to release players for the Olympics, but had to do so for the Copa America.

The confederation and the club had been in talks for months and apparently finally reached a deal.