Brazil boss Tite reveals availability status of Neymar against South Korea

Brazil boss Tite has confirmed that Neymar will be in the Brazil squad for Monday’s clash with South Korea as they bid to progress into the quarter-final and set up a tie against either Croatia or Japan.

The Paris Saint Germain man needed to be replaced 10 minutes from time in their clash with Serbia after a sliding challenge with Nikola Milenkovic, and subsequent photos of him in tears on the substitutes bench sparked fears that his tournament could be over.

However, it was later revealed that he would miss the remainder of the group games for the Selecao and faced a fitness race to be ready for the knockout rounds clashes.

Despite this, Brazil boss Tite has now revealed that the superstar will be back in training on Sunday, and will at the very least be amongst the substitutes, while should he prove his fitness he could start against South Korea.

“Regarding Neymar, he will train this afternoon (on Sunday) and, in training, he will be in the game. I’ll wait for training”, he told Brazilian media in his pre-match press conference on Sunday morning.

It will come as a major boost to the Brazilian ranks, with Neymar just two behind the iconic Pele in the country’s all-time goalscoring charts and his side’s talisman ahead of the tournament.

It will also restore Brazil’s ranks to the full complement of 24 players, with Tite having lost both Gabriel Jesus and Alex Telles for the remainder of the tournament after the pair picked up injuries during their final group game defeat to Cameroon.

Neither were fundamental parts of the Brazil side, with three substitute appearances between them across the opening two group games.

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