Injury woes continue for Brazil as Danilo suffers a sprained ankle of his own

Danilo will join Neymar in being sidelined for Brazil's remaining group stage games after picking up an ankle injury in Thursday night's win over Serbia.

The full-back suffered the injury in second half of the 2-0 victory, and despite continuing to finish the game, tests on Friday showed the strain in his left ankle is worst than first feared.

It's not the first time the Juventus defender has been injured at a major tournament, Danilo also suffered from ankle issues at the 2018 World Cup and the injury ruled him out of finals at the quarter-final stage.

He will now miss Monday's game against Switzerland, as well as Brazil's final group clash against Cameroon next Friday.

Dani Alves is in-line to win his 125th cap for his country as a like-for-like replacement for Danilo, or Brazil coach Tite could turn to Real Madrid's Eder Militao as another option.

Danilo's absence is another blow for the South American side, who are also going to be without talisman Neymar for the remainder of the group stage.

The PSG superstar left the field with a knock to his right ankle against Serbia, and looked to be in tears on the bench after he was substituted and replaced by Antony.

It marks the third World Cup tournament in a row that Neymar has suffered injury issues. He had back problems during the 2014 finals and then in 2018 broke his foot during the competition.

The 30-year-old tried to continue during Thursday night's victory, a game that was sealed by a Richarlison brace, but exited the match with ten minutes to play with fears he could miss the rest of the tournament.

However, it has been reported that the Brazil number 10 will still have a part to play in their tournament and is expected to be back for the knockout stages.

Tite will now call upon his rich array of attacking talent to carry Brazil through their final two games, with Antony, Rodrygo and Gabriel Jesus all attacking options he could look to explore.

Brazil fans though will look to Neymar's return to inspire them in the knockout stages of the competition, as they look to win their first World Cup since 2002.