Brazil star Neymar could not hold back the tears yesterday as he revealed he had come within a few inches of being paralysed.

Neymar gave his first press conference after being hospitalised with a fractured vertebrae in Brazil’s World Cup quarter-final win over Colombia.

The 22-year-old also revealed Colombia defender Juan Zuniga had called him to apologise for the knee in the back that initially left him unable to feel his legs.

“Zuniga called me a few days later to apologise and to tell me that he did not intend to hurt me,” Neymar said. “I accept his apology but I cannot consider that a normal action.

“I cannot say whether it was intentional, but everyone knows it wasn’t normal. The way he came in, behind me, I couldn’t defend myself.

“I thank God for helping me, because if that blow had been a few inches lower I would have risked being paralysed.”

Neymar added that he could not conceive what had gone wrong in Brazil’s 7-1 semi-final defeat by Germany.

He said: “What has happened is inexplicable. But even at 6-0, 7-0 down, they did not give up, they kept running, kept trying.

“I’m not ashamed to be Brazilian and I’m not ashamed to be part of this team. I am proud of every one of my teammates.” 

Earlier, Brazil’s sports minister had called for an inquiry to find out the “root causes of the disaster” after the 7-1 defeat.

Aldo Rebelo said: “We must analyse the root causes of this disaster, learn the lessons and try to correct them so this doesn’t happen again so that Brazil can regain its status in world football.”