Neymar made a £200million move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain last summer to become the world’s most expensive player.
But his summer three years previous was cut short by a back injury during Brazil’s World Cup quarter-final win over Colombia.
The injury caused a national outcry as Neymar subsequently missed the semi-final defeat to Germany, which Brazil lost 7-1.
And fans were left fearing the worst again when he was carried off on a stretcher during PSG’s win over Marseille last night.
The 26-year-old appears not to have suffered any lasting damage, to the relief of 2002 World Cup winner Cafu.
And despite reports claiming Neymar could miss the Champison League clash with Real Madrid next month, Cafu believes he will be fit to face Los Blancos.
“We don’t even think about [Neymar missing the World Cup],” Cafu said, speaking at the Laureus World Sports Awards.
NEYMAR LEAVES THE PITCH IN TEARS
“He had a totally different injury this time and he will be fine in 15 days for the [Real Madrid vs PSG] return match.
“Of course Neymar is someone that is very important, not only for Brazilian football but for the world of football, and it will be amazing to see him playing in a World Cup and showing all of his skills.”
Neymar scored 105 goals in his 186 games for Barcelona and has made an even more prolific start to his PSG career.
He is already just one strike away from passing the 20-goal mark and scored six times for Brazil in their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup.
But when pressed on whether he thought Neymar would be favourite to produce the best set of performances in Russia, Cafu remained unable to choose him over his two great rivals.
“I think it’s not possible to point out one out of Neymar, [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo,” Cafu added.
“Neymar is on a rising path – unfortunately he didn’t play [all of] 2014 because he was injured.
“But obviously it will be the three of them: Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo.”
