Brazil star misses two days of training after Serbia win

Manchester United winger Antony missed Brazil training on Friday and Saturday, making the €100m man a doubt for the Selecao’s second World Cup fixture against Switzerland on Monday.

Antony missed United’s final four games in all competitions before the World Cup break with an unrelated knock and was deemed fit enough to come off the bench for the final few minutes of Brazil’s 2-0 win over Serbia on Thursday.

But reports from journalists covering the Brazil camp confirmed that he was missing at training the following day because of illness and was still feeling unwell on Saturday.

The 22-year-old stayed behind at the team hotel instead and now only has one more day of training in which to prove his match readiness, assuming he feels better on Sunday, before Brazil play again.

Fellow Premier League players Alisson and Lucas Paqueta of Liverpool and West Ham respectively, were also absent from the main Brazil training session on Friday and stayed behind at the hotel to do individual work – both had started against Serbia.

Both Alisson and Paqueta, however, did return to Saturday’s training and are in line to play on Monday.

Brazil are already missing Neymar for the remainder of the group stage because of an ankle he suffered against Serbia. The 30-year-old previously saw his 2014 World Cup end as a result of injury, before an underwhelming performance in 2018.

Neymar will be praying that Brazil progress to the knockout stages, as is to be expected, so that he can still play a part in the tournament.

“Today has been one of the hardest moments of my career,” he said on Friday.

“Again at a World Cup. I have an injury, yes, it's boring, it's going to hurt but I'm sure I'll have the chance to come back because I will do my best to help my country, my teammates and myself.”

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