Bad news for Brazil fans as 22 year old forward Neymar took a blow during their quarter finals match against Colombia.
Neymar challenged Colombia's Juan Zuniga during the 88th minute. He was aiming to catch the ball facing it when Zuniga came in running at the back and hitting his right knee on his vertebrae. The Brazilian super star, ploughed to the ground and was seen writhing in pain. He was then stretchered off from the field and into the locker room where he was checked.
According to Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari "We lost Neymar on that play, and based on what I've seen, I think it's going to be tough for him to play."
After a few minutes, Neymar was seen being brought to a nearby hospital. Brazil team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar announced that the 22 year old FC Barcelona player had a fractured vertebra.
"Unfortunately, he's not going to be able to play. It's not serious in the sense that it doesn't need surgery, but he'll need to immobilise it to recover."
Neymar has been considered as the face of the Brazil National team, with his bubbly personality and creative skills in the field.
Brazil team captain Thiago Silva refused to blame Zuniga on what happened but would have wanted the Colombian defender to be more prudent. He said "Zuniga is not a bad guy. But at that moment he wasn't very prudent, he could have held up a bit, fouled in a different way."
He also said that this will be the time that team Brazil should be much closer and prove solidarity. He added "In those times it is when the team shows its strength. Neymar is a very important guy for our group, we depend a lot on him. But potentially, this situation can mark a revolution for us, like 'let's win the Cup for Neymar'. This could help bring together the team even more."
Many are supporting Neymar's swift recover and one of them is the country's president, Dilma Rousseff who took to social media his message "Like all Brazil I am one of those cheering from the sidelines for our star Neymar to get better."
It seems like Brazil is going to have a tough semi finals knowing that they are off to face Germany.
