PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN have confirmed that Neymar has suffered ankle ligament damage – just weeks before his sister’s birthday.
The Brazilian has developed a curious habit of missing matches around his younger sibling Rafaella’s March 11 birthday.
And now the forward, 31, could be out of action again after sustaining the blow in PSG’s 4-3 Ligue 1 win over Lille on Sunday.
Neymar scored the second goal in the victory but was carried off in tears early in the second half after colliding with Lille’s Benjamin Andre and rolling his right ankle.
A PSG statement said: “Additional tests today have confirmed that Neymar Jr has sprained his ankle, with some ligament damage.
“He will undergo further tests at the start of next week.”
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PSG have a trip to bitter rivals Marseille on Sunday before hosting Nantes on March 4 and then travel to Bayern Munich for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie trailing 1-0.
Neymar went into this year having been absent from games in seven of the last nine seasons around Rafaella’s big day and could be about to miss even more as the club refused to put a timescale on his absence.
He did appear last year as he lined up against Real Madrid and Bordeaux last week but was booed by his own supporters.
Neymar has traditionally been injured or suspended at this time of year.
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In 2014 he was merely an unused substitute, although in the following two seasons he picked up suspensions around Rafaella’s birthday.
During his final year at Barcelona he was suffering from a muscular injury.
Neymar missed the rest of his first season in Paris after fracturing a metatarsal in February 2018, also suffering a similar issue the following campaign.
In 2020 he was back in action, playing and even scoring against Dortmund in a Champions League clash on March 11.
And in 2021 he missed a PSG Ligue 1 match due to a muscular issue.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
