PSG sweat over Neymar injury ahead of Real Madrid return

Paris Saint-Germain are preparing for a race against the clock to get Neymar ready for their Champions League crunch against Real Madrid next week after he suffered an ankle injury against Marseille on Sunday.

The Brazilian superstar was stretchered off in tears towards the end of PSG’s 3-0 victory over their great rivals at the Parc des Princes, having innocuously rolled his right ankle and flopped to the ground in pain.

Paris coach Unai Emery said after the game that early examinations in the dressing room showed Neymar had twisted the ankle.

Le Parisien reported that the 26-year-old underwent tests at a hospital just outside Paris in the early hours of Monday which ruled out a “fracture or a serious sprain”.

Speaking to French television after Sunday’s match, PSG captain Thiago Silva said: “I’m not a doctor, but I don’t think he’ll be available on Wednesday (when PSG face Marseille again in the French Cup). He has to rest.”

Le Parisien suggested that the world’s most expensive player will definitely miss Wednesday’s French Cup match with Marseille as well as next Saturday’s trip to Troyes in Ligue 1.

The Champions League last 16, second leg against Real at the Parc des Princes in Paris on March 6 is just over a week away, leaving Neymar little time to recover fitness.

“We will be optimistic. If I had to say today (whether or not he will face Real) I would rather say yes to being optimistic,” said Emery on Sunday night.

PSG are 14 points clear of Monaco at the top of Ligue 1 after Sunday’s game, but the Champions League is crucial to the French club and they lost 3-1 in Madrid in the first leg two weeks ago.