Neymar misses Brazil training and undergoes tests on ‘minor’ calf injury ahead of World Cup

Neymar has undergone medical tests on a calf injury after missing Brazil’s training session on Wednesday.

Despite last playing for the international side in 2023, Neymar was named in Brazil’s squad for the World Cup earlier this month, but the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) have now detailed an injury setback which was described by his parent club Santos as a “minor calf” issue.

In an interview with Globo last week, Rodrigo Zogaib, the head of medical at Neymar’s club side Santos, said the forward had “some swelling” but that he was on schedule to return to fitness within a week.

On Wednesday, the CBF detailed that Neymar missed the training session in Teresopolis, adding: “The player was taken to a clinic in the city for additional tests.”

The setback comes just over two weeks before Brazil’s World Cup campaign gets underway, against Morocco in MetLife Stadium.

The 34-year-old is Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer but has had several injury issues in recent seasons and ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus in his left knee in October 2023.

The latest injury has forced Neymar to miss Santos’s last two games: a 2-2 draw with San Lorenzo in the Copa Sudamericana on May 20 and a 3-2 defeat to Gremio in the Serie A three days later.

Brazil have friendly matches against Panama on May 31 and against Egypt six days later, on June 6, before their World Cup campaign begins.

Drawn into group C, Carlo Ancelotti’s side will face Morocco on June 13, Haiti on June 20, and Scotland on June 24.