Neymar suffers metatarsal injury ahead of Manchester United clash

Neymar has emerged as an early doubt for the first leg of Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League tie with Manchester United after suffering a metatarsal injury on Wednesday night.

The Brazil international was forced midway through the first half of PSG’s 2-0 win over Strasbourg in the Coupe de France after suffering an injury to the same area of his right foot that kept him out of the final 15 matches of last season.

Neymar went to straight to hospital and PSG have now confirmed the nature of his injury and that they will continue to monitor it over the next few days before putting a timeline on his recovery.

“Initial examinations have revealed a painful recurrence of his injury to the fifth metatarsal of his right foot,” a statement read on PSG’s website.

“The treatment of this injury will depend on how it evolves over the next few days. All options can be envisaged at this time.”

Neymar will not feature in PSG’s league encounter with Rennes on Sunday and is now considered a huge doubt for their Champions League clash with United.

The Ligue 1 champions travel to Old Trafford for the first leg of their last-16 clash on February 12 and it would be a hammer blow if Neymar is sidelined.

Thomas Tuchel is already facing the prospect of being without midfield maestro Marco Verratti and their injury problems are starting to stack up.

Only Lionel Messi (8.88) and Edin Dzeko (8.49) have garnered a higher WhoScored rating than Neymar (8.44) in the Champions League this season.