Tite: Neymar to play on at World Cup despite injury

LUSAIL: Brazil manager Tite said star forward Neymar would fight through the pain barrier to continue playing in the FIFA World Cup despite an ankle injury.

The 30-year-old suffered the injury in the second-half of Brazil’s 2-0 victory over Serbia in Group G on Friday and played on for several minutes before being substituted by Manchester United forward Antony.

He was later seen in tears while sitting on the bench with noticeable swelling in his right ankle.

“Neymar will play the World Cup, you can be sure of that,” Tite told a post-match press conference.

“I didn’t see that Neymar was injured. I only saw it later on the video [replay]. He was able to play on and overcome [the pain],” he added.

Brazil team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said the extent of the injury would be known in 24-48 hours.

“We’ll have to wait to make a full assessment, maybe tomorrow [Friday],” Lasmar said.

He added that medical staff were also monitoring an ankle injury sustained by right-back Danilo during the match at Lusail stadium.