Thiago Motta has told Canal+ he feels Brandao has been justly punished with a six-month ban for headbutting the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder.
Brandao, 34, will only be able to play for Bastia, for whom he signed this summer, from Feb. 22 next year after the French Football League (LFP) hit him with the half-year-long suspension after he butted Motta, 32, following PSG's 2-0 win over the Corsican club on Aug. 16.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi had called for Brandao to be suspended for life, but though he was left with a broken nose, Motta refused to inflame the situation, and now seems keen to put it behind him.
"I think the league did its work. They felt it was a fair punishment, and I have nothing to add to that. It's normal that it's like that. Apologies count for nothing, and will never count for anything," he said.
"Frankly, I prefer my name be associated with matches like those against Barcelona, with the Champions League, with players like [Lionel] Messi, [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic or Thiago Silva, rather than it be associated with Brandao," said the former Barcelona and Inter Milan midfielder, who shrugged off accusations from Bastia he had provoked the former Shakhtar Donetsk and Marseille forward into attacking him in the players' tunnel at the Parc des Princes.
"It irritated me before, but not anymore. Perhaps some people, to serve their interests, have labelled me "a provocateur." But it goes in one ear and out the other."
