Injured Brazil star Neymar has spoken about the moment his 2014 World Cup came to an end in the Quarter Final win over Colombia, stating that he believes a worse challenge by Juan Zuniga could have even left him in a wheelchair.
The Barcelona man, 22, suffered a broken bone in his spine in the second half of that match following a hefty tackle from behind, and told reporters: “If it had been another two centimetres I could be in a wheelchair today.”
“I don’t hate him. I don’t feel a grudge. But I don’t feel anything.”
“It’s difficult to talk about a move that ended in such an important part of my career. I won’t say he came to injure me. I don’t know what was going on in his head but everyone who understands football can see that it wasn’t a normal challenge.”
Neymar’s teammates will be hoping to restore a degree of pride after crashiong out of the tournament courtesy of a 7-1 destruction by Germany in the last four in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday; they face Holland in Brasilia in tomorrow’s third-place play-off.
You can follow all the pre-match build-up here on Sambafoot, where we will be offering a live text service plus anlysis as always.
