Barcelona: Barcelona confirmed that the twisted ankle suffered by Brazilian striker Neymar will keep him out of action for three to four weeks. Neymar had to be helped off the pitch after falling badly midway through the first half of his side's 2-0 win in Getafe Thursday night and was on crutches when the team returned to Barcelona in the early hours of the morning, reports Xinhua.
That had prompted fears that he could have sustained ligament damage that would lead to this summer's star signing spending months on the sidelines, but tests carried out in Barcelona Friday morning have brought relatively good news for the club and the player.
Neymar has merely suffered a badly twisted ankle which will keep him out of action for just under a month. That will see him miss important matches in the BBVA Primera Liga, as well as the quarter-final and a potential semi-final in the Copa del Rey, but the good news is that he should have recovered by the time Barcelona return to Champions League action when the knockout phase begins Feb 16.
It has so-far been a frustrating 2014 for the player who cost Barca 57 million euros over the summer, as he began the year on the subs' bench and Thursday was his first start following the Christmas holidays. His injury coincides with Lionel Messi's return to action and the Argentine ace showed he has fully recovered following his thigh injury by scoring both of the goals to send Barca into a quarter- final tie against Levante.
Curiously the two sides will now meet three times in the coming 10 days given that as well as their Copa del Rey games, they also play each other in Levante's Ciudad de Valencia Stadium in the BBVA Primera Liga Sunday evening.
Levante will be looking for revenge after Barcelona scored 7 goals past them on the opening day of the 2013-14 season at the end of August last year, although given that Levante coach, Joaquin Caparros commented this week that playing Barca three times was like having three visits to the dentists planned, implies the Valencia based side do not have high hopes of success.
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