Neymar out six to eight weeks with ankle injury

Paris Saint-Germain have confirmed Neymar will be out for up to eight weeks after suffering an ankle injury in Sunday’s 3-1 win over St Etienne.

Neymar, 29, was stretchered off with five minutes of normal time to go at the Geoffroy Guichard Stadium after rolling his ankle under a challenge from a St Etienne defender.

The French champions say Neymar suffered ligament damage after spraining his ankle, and they expect him to be unavailable for between six and eight weeks.

PSG added that they will provide a further update on Neymar’s injury later this week.

A club statement read: “The examinations carried out last night confirm that Neymar Jr suffered from a sprained left ankle with ligament damage.

“An unavailability of 6 to 8 weeks is expected. A new update will be made in 72 hours to clarify the diagnosis.”

Neymar will likely return at the beginning of February, in time for the beginning of the Champions League knockout stages, with PSG already qualified as runners-up in Group A behind Manchester City.

The Champions League last 16 first-leg fixtures take place between February 15 and February 23.

Lionel Messi set up all three goals as Paris Saint-Germain stretched their Ligue 1 lead to 14 points with a 3-1 comeback win at 10-man St Etienne.

PSG made the most of Timothee Kolodziejczak’s red card on the stroke of halftime as Messi fed Marquinhos for two headed goals and Angel Di Maria struck to seal a clinical turnaround after Les Verts had opened the scoring through Denis Bouanga.

The result put the capital side on 40 points from 15 games, with third-placed Rennes having a chance to leapfrog Nice into second when they travel to Lorient later on Sunday.

St Etienne, who mounted on a decent challenge despite being a man down as snow fell on the Geoffroy Guichard stadium, are now bottom of the standings with 12 points.