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BRAZIL v COLOMBIA: Injured Neymar leaves Brazil training camp
Brazilian star Neymar leaves Brazil's World Cup training camp less than 24 hours after fracturing a vertebra in the 2-1 quarter-final win over Colombia.
Brazilian striker Neymar waves from a helicopter that took him and his father from the Brazil training ground in Teresopolis, Brazil, 05 July 2014. Neymar suffered a fracture near the third vertebra in Brazil's 2-1 quarter final victory against Colombia. Photo by: EPA/Marcelo Sayao
By Ulrike John, dpa
Teresopolis, Brazil (dpa) - Brazilian star Neymar left Brazil's World Cup training camp on Saturday, less than 24 hours after fracturing a vertebra in the 2-1 quarter-final win over Colombia.
An ambulance had brought the 22-year-old to the camp accompanied by team doctor Jose Luiz Runco on the 100-kilometre journey from Rio de Janeiro, where the team arrived early Saturday from the match venue in Fortaleza.
Live television footage later showed Neymar waving from a helicopter that flew him away from the camp.
Runco said Neymar's father spent the night with him, adding that the player was in a great deal of pain.
Neymar suffered his injury in a challenge by Colombia's Juan Zuniga late in the game, which Brazil won to advance to the semi-finals.
The Barcelona striker is expected to be out of action for several weeks, meaning he will miss Tuesday's semi-final against Germany in Belo Horizonte.
A video on the homepage of the Brazilian football federation CBF showed Neymar undergoing an MRT scan at the hospital where he was taken after being stretchered off.
From the hospital he was taken to the airport to join his teammates for the flight to Rio. Pictures from scene showed him sitting in a wheelchair being embraced by the Brazil squad.
