adminRIO DE JANEIRO. — Neymar battled back tears on Saturday as he urged his Brazil teammates to win the World Cup soccer title without him after suffering a fractured vertebrae in the quarter-final win over Colombia.“It is a difficult moment for me and it is hard to know what to say. My dream is not over. It was interrupted,” the emotional superstar said in a video released by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) as he left the team camp.
“Life moves on. I am sure my teammates will do everything possible so that we can achieve our dream of being champions. It was also my dream to play in a World Cup final. It will not be this time, but I am sure we will overcome this and we will all be able to celebrate being champions.”
The Brazil squad applauded the 22-year-old Barcelona striker in an emotional farewell at their Teresopolis camp before he was taken to Rio de Janeiro by helicopter.
Meanwhile, Brazilian team doctor Jose Luiz Runco called for World Cup referees to do more to protect players as he confirmed details of Neymar’s fractured third lumbar vertebrae, a bone in his lower back. — AFP.
Online Reporter