BARCELONA, August 22- Brazilian superstar Neymar has suffered an ankle sprain in training, Barcelona announced Friday, adding to the club’s injury woes just two days before opening their new La Liga campaign.
Neymar complained of pain in his left ankle at the end of Thursday’s training session and tests confirmed he had suffered a mild sprain, Barcelona reported as they prepared to face Elche at home on Sunday.
“His return to training will depend on the development of the injury,” the club said in a statement.
The Brazilian had looked to be in fine form Monday when he scored two of Barcelona’s goals in their 6-0 destruction of Mexican side Club Leon in a friendly.
Neymar’s new injury comes just four days after he had received the all-clear to play for the first time since suffering a broken vertebra in his back during the World Cup.
The 22-year-old missed out on his country’s disastrous 7-1 semi-final defeat to Germany on home soil after suffering the injury when he was clattered by Juan Camilo Zuniga towards the end of Brazil’s 2-1 quarter-final win over Colombia.
However, the injury could have been much worse as Neymar revealed that had the impact of Zuniga’s knee on his back been slightly higher he could have been left paralysed.
Barcelona’s new signings Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Thomas Vermaelen are also both sidelined by injury, while Luis Suarez continues his four-month ban for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup.
