‘Neymar’s return better than expected’

TERESPOLIS, Brazil: Brazil’s star forward Neymar is returning to training “better than expected,” after more than two months out with a broken foot bone, the Brazilian team physical trainer said Wednesday.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker, who was injured in February and underwent surgery in Brazil, is in training with the national team in Teresopolis, near Rio de Janeiro, ahead of the World Cup in Russia. “He has evolved well. He trains every day. I could even say that his development is better than expected,” the trainer, Fabio Mahseredjian, told journalists. Team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar, who led the operation on Neymar in March, said “he’s regaining his usual movements bit by bit. The next step is full group training and then play games. Everything is being done for him to feel at ease.”

Neymar will have a chance to get back to match fitness with a friendly against Croatia on June 3 and Austria on June 10. The team opens their World Cup campaign against Switzerland on June 17.Meanwhile, winger Douglas Costa suffered a “minor muscular injury,” Lasmar said, and could miss the friendlies.