Neymar suffered a freak ankle injury which comes as a fresh blow for Paris Saint-Germain weeks ahead of their UEFA Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich.
PSG are currently trailing the round of 16 tie 0-1 on aggregate, and they could be without Neymar for the away trip to the Allianz Arena on March 9.
Neymar scored in PSG’s hard-fought win over Lille in Ligue 1 on Sunday, but it came at a cost as the Brazilian talisman had to be carried off the field on a stretcher while he was reduced to tears.
Even though the 31-year-old appeared in pain, he was wanting to continue to play on, but couldn’t. Lionel Messi grabbed a late winner for PSG as they fended off Lille 4-3.
As soon as Neymar was stretchered off, it would have sent alarm bells ringing in the Parisian capital given the Brazilian poor track record with injuries. Over the years, he has missed several important matches for PSG due to fitness concerns.
There is also a running joke on social media that Neymar missed matches for PSG, so he could attend the birthday party of his sister Rafaella Santos who will turn 27 on March 11, two days after the fixture against Bayern.
Thus, many fans started to flood Twitter with hilarious memes as soon as Neymar was carried off injured.
Check how fans reacted:
Neymar 👀 pic.twitter.com/NuHkHHtcIM— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) February 19, 2023
neymar was still trying to walk & wanted to play even after the nasty injury 🙁 pic.twitter.com/nqZVfH0K2P— wrice (@youarealoserfr) February 19, 2023
Neymar on attending his sister’s birthday 😭 pic.twitter.com/LokHniPfN0— Zayn🇵🇹 (@FcB_Z4YN7) February 19, 2023
Neymar injured right before his sister’s birthday again pic.twitter.com/CXDG7u1Yg8— H. (@sushiniesta) February 19, 2023
Neymar with the same format of getting injured near his sister’s birthday pic.twitter.com/g8Jmo3M9an— cherry 🖤♧ (@cherry_lfc) February 19, 2023
Neymar injured right before his sister’s birthday again pic.twitter.com/Hs7uZdPFW1— Bade ♨️ (@bade_UTD) February 19, 2023
Neymar’s sister Rafaella Santos’s birthday is on March 11 and since 2013 he has consecutively been injured in that period in other to celebrate with his sister on her birthday.Guess what? This is Feb 19, 2023 and Neymar is injured again for at least a Month.
Is this a Curse? pic.twitter.com/G4EHFuxzTf
— Alariwo Of Sports 📻 🎙 (@UgoIfeanyi8) February 19, 2023
Neymar would obviously be looking to return to full fitness as soon as possible with PSG still fighting on multiple fronts for trophies.
The Ligue 1 giants are currently sitting pretty atop the French league standings, but they face an uphill task to turn around the 0-1 deficit against Bayern in the Champions League.
PSG have been hampered with injuries of late as Kylian Mbappe came on late against Bayern in the first leg, and it seems as if it will be very difficult for the Parisians to line up with all three of their star forwards, Messi, Mbappe and Neymar for the away trip.
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