On the YouTube channel The Players' Tribune, Neymar said that he almost lost his ability to walk from an injury sustained during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
During the quarterfinal with Colombia, Juan Camilo Zuniga kicked Neymar in the back, breaking the striker’s backbone.
In an interview for The Player’s Tribune, Neymar said, "But I couldn't manage to lift my legs. I couldn't move my legs. And the doctor took me out and I started to … to cry. Because it was very painful and I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel my legs, so I went to the hospital that's in the stadium. And there they left me and I remember that I was with my leg bent like this, and when I stretched it out…"
For the next week, as Neymar recalls, he and his family were at the hospital, crying most of the time. The doctors gave him a disturbing yet positive prognosis after telling him he couldn't finish out the World Cup: "The good one is that afterward you will be able to walk, because two centimeters to the side … football is over for you."
This year’s Paris Saint-Germain's record signing of Neymar for 222 million euros ($263m) had stunned football analysts and fans alike.
The transfer from Barcelona to PSG made the 25-year-old Neymar the highest paid footballer in the world at $34 million after taxes.
