Neymar: “I could have been in a wheelchair!”

This past Thursday, Neymar got back to the Brazilian National Team‘s World Cup headquarters at the Granja Comary complex and it didn’t take much time to have him in front of the cameras commenting not only the latest incidents in the tournament, but also the episode of his injury.

Neymar commenting on Brazil’s World Cup campaign and also his injury:

Neymar: “What happened against Germany was simply unbelievable. That’s football though and we know it’s going to haunt us for a long time now. In any case, the players never stopped running even when we were down by 7 and that’s one of the reasons why I’m very proud of being Brazilian. We’ll do everything in our reach to put those smiles back in the Brazilian people face and I’m sure better days will come soon…”, started by promising the FC Barcelona forward.

We’re not very used to see the type of injuries such as the one Neymar has had against in the game against Colombia. And there’s probably a logical reason for that… Coming at your opponent on his back, with your knee raised high and aiming at the lower back, is simply an unconventional way of approaching any sort of play in this game. Zuniga must have known what he was going for and that also seems to be Neymar opinion after reviewing what happened…

Neymar: “This has been one of the worst injuries of my career. I couldn’t have imagined something like this would have happened to me and in that particular moment. As if that wasn’t bad enough, we still had to witness that bad memory game against Germany in the round after… I’ve been through a very difficult period and I naturally questioned why that was happening to me. However, if this has been God’s will, then there must have been a reason for it to happen.”

Neymar: “I can’t accept the claims that suggest that the play where I got injured was part of football. I can’t state he had this intention because I wasn’t on his mind, but everyone who has played football know very well how to stop the game when it’s needed, and this wasn’t a typical foul. I had my back completely turned at him, so I had no chance of protecting me and therefore I got injured.”

Nevertheless, Neymar revealed he has accepted Zuniga‘s apologies but also broke up in tears when noting that he could have been forced to be in a wheelchair, had the knee hit been a few inches more in the middle of his lower back.

Neymar: “I don’t hold any grudge against Zuniga, neither I hate him at all. He called me and I accepted his apologies. I wish him a lot of success in his career.”

Neymar: “If he would have hit me a couple centimeters more to the inside, I would have been in a wheelchair now. Thank God I seem to have been protected…”, commented the 22-year old superstar, as he couldn’t hold the tears from coming off his eyes.

Brazil is getting ready to face Netherlands this Saturday, in order to decide who finishes in 3rd place in this 2014 FIFA World Cup. Neymar will obviously not play in this game, as he’s still going through an injury recovery plan that should last at least more 4-5 weeks.

Sources: marca.com / bbc.co.uk