NEYMAR was left in tears after suffering a serious-looking knee injury as Brazil’s World Cup hopes suffered a blow.
Fresh from having a box of popcorn thrown at his head following the draw with Venezuela, the 31-year-old looks set to be sidelined after the blow during a game he had threatened to boycott over last week’s unsavoury incident.
The superstar, still the world’s most-expensive footballer after his £198m transfer to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona in 2017, was hurt in the closing stages of the first half against Uruguay.
He tripped while jostling for the ball with Nicolas de la Cruz and his knee appeared to buckle as he hit the ground at the Centenario Stadium.
Concerned team-mates quickly surrounded Brazil’s record goalscorer as he held his left knee while screaming in agony on the turf.
Neymar then had both hands on his face as he was carried off on a stretcher as he appeared to be crying.
He was later spotted leaving the ground on crutches as the national team doctor, Rodrigo Lasmar, informed worried supporters that it was too early to know the severity of the injury.
He said: “We did all the tests and we will repeat them tomorrow. Those 24 hours are key to see how his knee will respond, how swollen it will be and what images will show.
“Let’s wait for the exams with calmness, evaluate with calmness and tell you once we have a diagnosis.”
That setback compounded a miserable evening for the five-time World Cup winners lost 2-0 to Uruguay in Montevideo.
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Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez broke the deadlock just two minutes before the Neymar drama.
Nicolas de la Cruz then secured the victory 13 minutes from time.
The loss leaves Brazil third in the CONMEBOL standings ahead of crunch clashes with Colombia and World Cup holders Argentina next month.
Supporters will now be left praying that the injury is not as bad as first feared and that their talisman will be fully recovered for next summer’s Copa America.
However, Neymar’s new employers Al-Hilal will also be desperate to discover the severity of their big-money signing.
He left Paris Saint-Germain for the Saudi Arabian club in a £77.6million move this summer.
The Samba ace was one of a number of high-profile arrivals at Al-Hilal, joining the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
Neymar penned a two-year contract in the Middle East worth a whopping £2.5m-a-week but potential knee ligament damage could rule him out for the majority of his first campaign there.
