'God saved me' - PSG star Neymar credits divine intervention for positive injury prognosis

Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar has credited divine intervention for saving him from a more serious injury after the Ligue 1 club revealed his ankle problem wasn't as bad as first thought.

The Brazilian attacker was stretchered from the field in tears in stoppage time of PSG's 1-0 league defeat to Lyon after a mis-timed challenge from Thiago Mendes, who was shown a red card after a VAR review.

Despite Neymar looking in significant pain as he was taken from the field, the French champions revealed that scans on his ankle injury have revealed a sprain rather than a fracture.

The 28-year-old credited his faith for helping alleviate his injury situation and vowed to return from the issue as quickly as possible.

"It could have been worse, but once again God saved me from something serious. My cry was of pain, despair, fear, anguish, surgery, crutches and other horrible memories," Neymar posted on Instagram.

"I hope to recover and return as quickly as possible."

Neymar has had to battle several serious injury issues throughout his career at PSG, including separate metatarsal fractures in 2017-18 and 2018-19 that kept him absent for more than 30 matches combined.

The player's father, Neymar Sr., believes his son doesn't get enough protection from referees on the pitch and that too often the victim is the player that is injured.

"Damn… how much longer? We have spoken about this so much, we have so underlined the excess of violence," Neymar Sr. wrote on Instagram.

"Why not stop it at the beginning, with the first foul, why wait until the seventh, eighth, ninth foul? 

"We are not taking the necessary measures throughout the whole game, where Neymar suffered the usual rotation of fouls, and always violent ones. 

"This encourages these types of players and attitudes. If this sort of thing is allowed to continue, football will really lose a lot.

"FOR HOW MUCH LONGER WILL THE VICTIM BE THE ONE AT FAULT?"

PSG have slipped to third in the Ligue 1 standings behind Lille and Lyon, and will face the former away on Sunday after a match at home against Lorient on Wednesday.

Neymar will be hoping to recover from his injury in time to face his former club Barcelona in the Champions League knockout stages in February.