Neymar had been targeted once in the game already and Pochettino was about to take him off.
The Paris Saint-Germain boss put an arm around the Brazilian but there was no relief. He left with his head down. Thursday’s scans revealed Neymar had sustained a groin injury and is likely to be out for a month. He will miss Tuesday’s meeting in the Champions League with his former club Barcelona and, most likely, the second leg in Paris.
His career has been disrupted by more than two dozen injuries. Neymar has missed a quarter of the PSG Champions League games, and this will be the third time he won’t play in the last 16 rounds. He missed Real Madrid’s second leg in 2018; all games against Manchester United in 2019; and now against Barcelona.
PSG has been knocked out each time. Last year, they reached the finals in the knockout process for the first time since moving to France.
