Neymar ruled out of Brazil’s World Cup clash with Switzerland by ankle injury

By George Sessions, PA

Neymar’s ankle injury will rule him out of Monday’s Group H fixture with Switzerland, Brazil team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar has confirmed.

The Paris St Germain forward was forced off towards the latter stages of Thursday’s 2-0 win over Serbia after being on the receiving end of a number of strong challenges.

Compatriot Danilo was also substituted with an ankle injury and went for an MRI scan with Neymar on Friday to diagnose their respective problems.

Jogo difícil, mas era importante ganhar.
Parabéns equipe, primeiro passo dado…
Faltam 6 💙💚💛🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/vNQXljRz3e

— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) November 25, 2022

Dr Lasmar told Brazilian Football Confederation: “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.”

Scans showed Neymar had suffered a lateral ligament injury to his right ankle along with small bone swelling.

Meanwhile, Juventus full-back Danilo has sustained a medial ligament injury to his left ankle.

“The players Neymar and Danilo started the treatment yesterday immediately after our game. Today in the morning they were reassessed,” Dr Lasmar said.

“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.”

A brace from Richarlison helped Brazil win their World Cup opener and after Monday’s clash with Switzerland, they conclude their group phase campaign with a match against Cameron on December 2.

Neymar has a history of ankle injuries and was ruled out for two-and-a-half months last season with a similar issue.