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."
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