Singapore (AFP)

Even thousands of miles away from Paris, Neymar has again given Paris SG cold sweat while out on injury in a draw (1-1) of Brazil against Nigeria on Sunday in Singapore.

In the eighth minute of the game, the 27-year-old, who missed the start of the season and part of the last two on injury, put his hand on the left thigh shortly after an acceleration. He remained on the field but was replaced five minutes later by Philippe Coutinho.

On the bench, the Seleçao medical team put a pocket of ice on the back of the thigh of the striker, who played his 101st match for Brazil.

"The first 24 hours will be fundamental to understand what happened, whether it is muscle fatigue or a type of injury that we need to deal with," said Rodrigo Lasmar, MD of the Brazilian federation, at the microphone of SporTV.

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Coach Tite assured that Neymar "had no muscular problem before the match".

This injury could jeopardize his return to the Champions League with PSG on Club Brugge on 22 October.

The 27-year-old had already injured his ankle with Seleçao on 5 June in a friendly against Qatar. This injury deprived him of Copa America, which Brazil won at home in July.

If Paris worries about its star, the Seleçao is also worried to be done.

It has just started a fourth game without a win, after disappointing results against Colombia (2-2) and Peru (1-0 defeat) in September and another 1-1 draw against Senegal on Thursday, also in Singapore .

It was Neymar's 101st match in the Seleção jersey and the star striker, lined up on the left wing, remained silent.

Against Nigeria, "Ney" started the match in the axis, as with the PSG Thomas Tuchel, the young Everton on the left wing, and relegating Philippe Coutinho on the bench.

But the PSG star has barely had time to show his talent on the field.

Even before Neymar was injured, Nigeria had already made a big fuss at Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson, who had to relax all his life on a shot from the left of Lille's Osimhen (5th).

Brazil reacted with a header of the Citizen Gabriel Jesus diverted in-extremis by the goalkeeper Francis Uzoho (27th), but it is the "Super Eagles" who opened the scoring.

After a good center of a very strong Osimhen, Simon shifted Aribo, who offered a small festival in the area in the middle of three Brazilians before crucifying Ederson (34th).

Brazil came back with better intentions after the break and the equalizer did not wait, with a Casemiro well placed to take a header from Marquinhos who crashed on the crossbar.

Casemiro almost scored the double on corner, with another head pushed back by the bar (16th).

Jesus (72) and Coutinho (85) also had opportunities to give Brazil their first win since the Copa America, but Nigeria held firm.

© 2019 AFP