What happened when basketball star Bryant met Balotelli and Neymar?

Some of sport's biggest names came head-to-head after Brazil's 4-2 triumph over Italy in the Confederations Cup when basketball star Kobe Bryant had a snoop around the dressing room of the two sides.
The LA Lakers' legendary shooting guard smiled as he posed for pictures with stars including Mario Balotelli - looking surly after the Group A defeat - and Barcelona's newest Brazilian star Neymar, grinning after scoring in the match.

Say cheese: La Lakers star Kobe Bryant met Mario Balotelli after watching the Confederations Cup

Little and large: Bryant also posed with Brazil superstar Neymar, who scored in his side's 4-2 win

The pictures, posted to Bryant's Twitter page, also show him with Neymar's fellow Selecao stars Dani Alves and Felipe Luis.
The match say the hosts preserve their 100 per cent record in the tournament, despite mass anti-government protests threatening to disrupt the event.
Neymar and Balotelli also met up after the match, with the Brazil striker revealing the pair's conversation.
'We were talking about the heat,' Neymar told journalists after the game as reported by football-italia.net.

His and hers: Balotelli tweeted a picture of Italy shirts for himself and his girlfriend, Fanny

'He told me it was too hot and he wasn’t accustomed to this sort of environment, so I told him he’d better start getting used to the heat.
'He is a good lad and a great player who caused us a lot of problems in defence, but I am happy with what my teammates were able to do in order to stop him scoring.'
Bayern Munich defender Dante put Brazil one up before Balotelli sublimely set up Emanuele Giaccherini to equalise for Italy.

More stars: Bryant also took snaps with Neymar's Brazil team-mates Dani Alves and Felipe Luis (below)

A Neymar free-kick and a strike from Fred ensured Italy being on level terms didn't last long, with Giorgio Chiellini and another goal from Fred giving each side another goal to end the match 4-2.
Balotelli also took to Twitter to post a picture, of 'his and hers' Italy home and away shirts for himself and girlfriend Fanny Neguesha.