'Small possibility' Neymar will be fit for PSG-Real return leg
By Pol O Gradaigh,
Paris-By Pol O Gradaigh, - There is only a "small possibility" that Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar will be fit for the crucial Champions League last 16 second leg with Real Madrid next week, coach Unai Emery conceded Tuesday.
The Paris club revealed overnight that the Brazilian striker has a twisted ankle and a hairline fracture of his fifth metatarsal.
He was stretchered off in the 80th minute of PSG's Sunday Ligue 1 victory over Olympique Marseille.
PSG go into the March 6 return with Real trying to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first leg in Madrid.
"Neymar is the first one to want to go to all the matches, the match against Real Madrid," Emery said. "He's very concentrated on that."
"There's a small possibility that he can be ready for the match," Emery added. "It's not easy but we are going to wait, we are going to see how the [next] days go for him."
Reports that the Brazilian would undergo an operation were "false information," the Spanish coach added.
Failure to make it through to the quarter-finals would be a major blow to chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who undoubtedly had the Champions League in mind when he paid a record-breaking 222 million euros (274 million dollars) to release Neymar from his contract with Barcelona in August.
In the same statement revealing Neymar's injury, PSG also said Brazilian defender Marquinhos had suffered a lesion in his left thigh.
He was stretchered off in the 80th minute of PSG's Sunday Ligue 1 victory over Olympique Marseille.
PSG go into the March 6 return with Real trying to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first leg in Madrid.
"Neymar is the first one to want to go to all the matches, the match against Real Madrid," Emery said. "He's very concentrated on that."
"There's a small possibility that he can be ready for the match," Emery added. "It's not easy but we are going to wait, we are going to see how the [next] days go for him."
Reports that the Brazilian would undergo an operation were "false information," the Spanish coach added.
Failure to make it through to the quarter-finals would be a major blow to chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who undoubtedly had the Champions League in mind when he paid a record-breaking 222 million euros (274 million dollars) to release Neymar from his contract with Barcelona in August.
In the same statement revealing Neymar's injury, PSG also said Brazilian defender Marquinhos had suffered a lesion in his left thigh.