An emotional Neymar cried as he recalled the
challenge that ended his World Cup on
Thursday and said he felt blessed not to have
ended up in a wheelchair.
Colombia’s Juan Zuniga kneed the Brazil
forward in the back in the closing stages of
the hosts’ 2-1 quarter-final victory, ruling
him out of the tournament before the host
team’s 7-1 semi-final defeat by Germany.
“I won’t say he came to injure me, I don’t know
what was going on in his head but everyone
who understands football can see that it
wasn’t a normal challenge,” Neymar said.
“When you want to foul someone to stop a
game or stop a counter-attack, you kick their
ankles, you push, you pull, but the way the
ball was falling, it wasn’t a normal game
situation.
“Many of you say I am a diver and I don’t
care that you say that. I can defend myself
when I can see what’s going on around me.
“But I can’t defend myself from what comes
from behind. What defends me in that
situation is the rules and I couldn’t defend
myself from that and I was injured.
“God blessed me,” a tearful Neymar added.
“If it had been another two centimetres I
could be in a wheelchair today.”
Neymar said Zuniga called him the next day
to apologise but he stopped short of forgiving
his rival for the challenge.
“I don’t hate him, I don’t hold a grudge,”
Neymar said. “But I don’t feel anything.”
Neymar also revealed he will support Brazil’s
biggest rivals Argentina in Sunday’s World Cup
final against Germany.
He said he wanted Barcelona team-mates
Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano to win
football’s biggest prize, even if many of his
compatriots will be surprised at his open
support for their neighbours.
“I always said I wanted Argentina to get to
the final because Brazil would be there but it
never worked out like that,” he said.
“I still want them there because my two team
mates are there, Messi and Mascherano, and
I hope they win.”
“Messi’s won almost everything and I think he
deserves to be champion and I am cheering
for him to be champion.”