Brazilian soccer star Neymar suffered what is believed to be a serious ankle injury while playing for Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday. PSG lost the game 1-0 against Lyon, but losing Neymar may be the bigger loss, especially considering that the French club drew Barcelona FC during Monday’s Champion’s League draw.
Neymar suffered the injury in stoppage time as he tried to advance the ball in hopes of scoring the tying goal. After cutting right, a defender dove forward in an attempt to knock the ball away. Neymar’s left leg and ankle got caught between the defender’s legs, and Neymar crumpled to the ground as his ankle twisted awkwardly.
And while it can sometimes be difficult to tell whether or not a soccer player is actually injured when they are tackled because they oftentimes exaggerate the extent of their injuries, it was immediately clear that Neymar was in significant pain. He was in tears as he was being attended to by medical staff, and he was eventually stretchered off the pitch. He was originally scheduled to undergo an MRI on Sunday night, but the team decided to hold off until Monday morning. Just hours ago the team confirmed that Neymar underwent scans on Monday, and although more tests will be coming in the next 48 hours, the team announced in a press release that the first scans were “encouraging.”
You can see video of the injury below.
Dr. Silverman Comments
The initial diagnosis is that Neymar suffered a serious ankle sprain, and the team is hoping that the ankle ligaments are not damaged. However, ligament damage is the underlying mechanism of an ankle sprain. As our ankle rolls in one direction, the supportive ankle ligaments that help to stabilize the joint become overstretched. Even in minor ankle sprains, this stretching can lead to microtears in the ankle ligaments. With a more forceful ankle sprain like the one Neymar suffered, ligament damage is all but certain.
So the question shouldn’t really be whether or not Neymar suffered ligament damage, it’s how much damage he sustained. Because if his strong ankle ligaments were only slightly damaged, time and physical therapy could help him return to the pitch for one of the biggest games of his career against his former club Barcelona in the knockout round of the Champion’s League. If the damage is more severe, it may take a lot longer for the ligaments to heal, or it could even result in ankle ligament reconstruction surgery.
If the ligaments are damaged and can’t effectively heal with conservative methods, Neymar may be at a heightened risk for repeated ankle sprains as the ligaments can no longer provide necessary support during normal soccer movements. Surgery can make the ligaments stronger than they were prior to injury and provides great long-term results, but it would effectively end his Champion’s League campaign, especially since it will be that much harder to beat Barcelona without him on the pitch.
The good news is that no fracture has been identified on initial scans, and although the Champion’s League draw was today, the first leg of the knockout round against Barcelona isn’t until February 16, giving Neymar more than eight weeks to recover from his ankle injury. He may not be fully healthy, and he may consider offseason ankle instability surgery, but given all that’s on the line, we wouldn’t be surprised if Neymar is back on the pitch for the Barcelona game so long as future imaging scans don’t find anything surprising.
We wish him all the best in his recovery.