Neymar injury doubt for Madrid clash, but surgery ruled out
Neymar still has a “small chance” of playing against Real Madrid in the Uefa Champions League and there are no plans for an operation on his cracked bone, Paris Saint-Germain manager Unai Emery said yesterday.
“For Neymar there has been no decision to have an operation,” said Emery, denying a Brazilian media report the world’s most expensive player would go under the knife to fix the cracked bone in his foot.
“Neymar is the first to want to play every match, he’s very focused on Real. I think there’s a small chance that he’ll be ready for the match,” Emery added.
PSG trail 3-1 from the last-16, first leg in Madrid two weeks ago and the loss of Neymar would be a huge blow to their chances of overturning that deficit at the Parc des Princes yesterday and reaching the quarter-finals.
Neymar suffered a cracked metatarsal in his foot and a twisted ankle in an innocuous looking incident against Marseille on Sunday night.
And while Emery said there is a possibility he will recover by next week, he was more pessimistic than he had been on Sunday.
“Today, after analysing Neymar, it looks less likely than it did on Sunday that he’ll be ready for this match,” he said.
Neymar posted a picture on Instagram on Monday showing his right ankle strapped and with a protective splint.
Meanwhile, Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane was taking no pleasure from the news of Neymar’s injury. The Frenchman, quoted by L’Equipe, said: “I don’t like it when a player hurts himself, I am not happy about the injury to Neymar. We never rejoice when a rival is absent due to injury.”