Former Brazil international Juninho Pernambucano has received death threats after criticising Vinicius Junior on national television.
Vinicius, 17, is set to join Real Madrid in the summer after the European champions agreed a €40 million deal with Brazilian club Flamengo.
The teenager sparked controversy when he did a chororo -- miming wiping away tears -- to celebrate scoring in the win against rivals Botafogo in the Guanabara Cup semifinal earlier this month.
The incident led Botafogo to bar Flamengo from playing the final in their Nilton Santos stadium on Sunday, forcing the organisers to switch venue, while Juninho, 43, strongly criticised the player.
"You have to respect the loser more -- you can't hit him when he is down," he said on TV Globo.
Those comments led to Juninho receiving threatening tweets, and he then asked not to commentate on Sunday's final.
"Human trash, I'm going to kill you, you're Paraiba, you son of a b----... These were just a few of the things written to me by people," he wrote on Saturday.
"Threats will be taken to the next level. I will not do the game tomorrow, I asked not to. Where are we?"
Vinicius Junior also scored as Flamengo defeated Boavista 2-0 to win the Guanabara Cup, which serves as the first round of the Carioca or Rio State championship.