Neymar looks likely to miss the rest of the group stage at the World Cup, as the Brazil superstar suffered a nasty ankle injury in their 2-0 win against Serbia.
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The Paris Saint-Germain superstar came off in the second half and pictures taken when he had his right boot and sock off on the sidelines showed that his ankle had severe swelling.
An update from the team doctor of the Brazil national team, Rodrigo Lasmar, has confirmed that both Neymar and right back Danilo will miss the rest of the group stage.
What is the latest?
Here is the full update from Rodrigo Lasmar on Neymar:
“The players Neymar and Danilo started the treatment yesterday (Thursday) immediately after our game. Today (Friday) in the morning they were reassessed and as we had already advanced in yesterday’s interview, through today’s physical assessment we thought it was important to do an image exam, an MRI so that we had more data on the evolution of the two players .
“The scans showed a lateral ligament injury to Neymar’s right ankle along with a small bone swelling. And a medial ligament injury to Danilo’s left ankle. Players remain in treatment. It is very important for us to be very calm, peaceful, this assessment will be carried out daily so that we have information and make the best decisions based on that.
“We can already say that we will not have the two players for our next game, but they remain in treatment with our objective of trying to recover in time for this competition.”
How will this impact Brazil?
Of course, Neymar is Brazil’s talisman and their main man.
But they can get through group stage games against Switzerland and Cameroon without him.
Given their abundance of superstar forwards, the likes of Richarlison, Antony, Gabriel Jesus, Vinicius Jr, Rodyrgo, Raphinha and Gabriel Martinelli will rotate in and out of the team over the next few games.
Neymar is the biggest superstar in this Brazil side but if he rests up and recovers well, having him back fresh and raring to go for the knockout rounds may not be the worst thing in the world.
