Brazil's talismanic forward Neymar Jr. played down injury concerns after getting a win in their opener against Serbia on Thursday, November 25. Taking to Twitter the 30-year-old Brazilian star emphasised the importance of the win with no mention of his injury.
The five-time World Cup winners ran through the Serbian defence in a comprehensive victory of 2-0 but the dying minutes of the game were flagged by a worrying sign of injury to their star player.
The victory was marred by Neymar coming off injured with 10 minutes to go. Neymar sustained an ankle problem as a result of a challenge by Nikola Milenkovic and pushed on for another 11 minutes before being swapped for Antony with 10 minutes in the game to spare. The Brazilian striker was seen limping off with a swollen ankle struggling to move with his shoe off and his foot bulged akin to an athlete's foot.
The Brazilian icon had ice taped to the injured area of his right ankle to cushion the blow with his head down despondently and tears were visibly streaming down his face while his teammates were trying to cheer him up. Brazil's coach Tite after his team's win over Serbia also dismissed any injury concerns that were suspected to loom over Neymar, he said.
"We are confident that Neymar will continue playing, he will continue playing in the World Cup," Tite told reporters, confessing that he was initially unaware of his striker's injury. I didn't see Neymar was hurt. And he had the capacity to overcome this, he even tricked me."
Team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said Brazil would wait 24-48 hours before assessing Neymar's injury and would come to a conclusion after that. "Neymar has an injury on his right ankle, a direct trauma," Lasmar said. "Due to the impact from the knee of the Serbian player, we started immediate treatment on the bench. He continues with the physio, but now need to wait 24-48 hours for a better assessment.
There is no MRI scan scheduled, but tomorrow we will make a new assessment. We need to wait and cannot make any premature comments," he confirmed.
