The Barcelona forward will miss Brazil's WC qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay due to a torn thigh muscle in his right leg.
'But when I arrived in Barcelona, I was told that it was no longer possible, that I could not stay and that I had to find another club, because Barca could not afford to extend my contract. That changed my plans.'
The trio make up the shortlist for the 2004 World Player of the Year award.\n
Barcelona have no plans to re-sign Neymar from Paris St Germain, the club's vice-president Jordi Cardoner said on Friday, knocking down media reports the La Liga champions were ready to tempt the Brazilian forward back to the Nou Camp.
The Brazilian is likely to make his first appearance of the season for the Ligue 1 leaders at home against Racing Strasbourg on Saturday.
Paris St Germain midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo says he no longer wants to play for France.
Ramos, 32, announced debut rap composition 'SR4' little more than a week ahead of Real's Champions League final against Liverpool in Kiev.
A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
City need three points to be sure of securing their third title in four years
Ligue 1 leaders Olympique Lyonnais were knocked out of the French Cup 3-2 at Nantes on Tuesday with Vincent Bessat grabbing a hat-trick in the last-32 game on a night of upsets.
Two goals in three minutes earned Paris St Germain a 3-2 win at bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille as the French champions regained the Ligue 1 lead on Sunday.
France forward Antoine Griezmann says he would only leave Atletico Madrid if manager Diego Simeone also quit the La Liga club.
Barcelona will put Manchester City to the sword if they commit the same kind of errors as they did in their Champions League encounter last month, coach Luis Enrique said.
A round-up of Saturday's action in LaLiga, Ligue 1 and Serie A.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid came from behind to beat Paris St Germain 3-1, while Sadio Mane grabbed a hat-trick as Liverpool demolished Porto 5-0 away in the Champions League round-of-16 on Wednesday.
Paris St Germain coach Laurent Blanc admitted it would be hard to play football when they visit Lorient in Ligue 1 on Saturday eight days after the deadly attacks in Paris.
With immense pressure on him to match the late great Diego Maradona and send the trophy back to Buenos Aires, Lionel Messi has lit up the Qatar tournament while others in the superstar stratum - Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo - have underwhelmed and gone home.
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Brazilian was a constant threat in his second-half run-out, though, and scored from the penalty spot as the Catalans sneaked a 6-5 shoot-out win.
A round-up of Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Arsenal have signed forward Nicolas Pepe from French club Lille for a club-record fee, the Premier League side said on Thursday.
The 23-year-old will inherit the number 10 shirt from the departing Argentine Juan Roman Riquelme.
A sloppy Real Madrid were held 0-0 at home to Real Betis on Saturday in a further blow to their hopes of retaining the La Liga title.
Barcelona were in danger of being toppled from the top of La Liga standings on Sunday after they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at Deportivo La Coruna.
The Brazilian ace scored a goal and assisted in another in a 3-0 victory over Olympique Marseille in the French first division.
Coach Laurent Blanc parted ways with Paris St Germain, putting pen to paper on a 22-million-euro ($25 million) severance deal.
Organisers trial virtual crowd noise option
Arsenal will face manager Arsene Wenger's former club Monaco with defending champions Real Madrid pitted against German club Schalke.
'We're going to have time to talk in the future but any big player in the world will always be welcome at PSG.'
Ramos acknowledged 'there were some calls' when he entered the final six months of his contract but stressed 'leaving Real Madrid was never on my mind'.
La Liga has yet to officially confirm a date on which it will resume, although its president Javier Tebas had said previously he hoped the season could do so from June 12.
Mauricio Pochettino, who played for PSG as a defender in the early 2000s and also captained the side, has been out of a job since being dismissed by Spurs in November 2019.
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Tuesday.
AC Milan have signed Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer until the end of the season with an option for a further year, the Serie A club announced on Friday. Ibrahimovic, 38, returns to Milan where he helped the club win their last league title in 2010-11 and scored 56 goals in 85 games in two seasons.
Bayern Munich conceded a stoppage-time equaliser through VfB Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy from the penalty spot for a 2-2 on Saturday, the champions' third consecutive Bundesliga draw.
Data revealed that Spain's La Liga and the Premier League were joint-top in terms of social media popularity, well ahead of the NBA, NFL and Serie A.
Barcelona are keen to sign the Brazilian playmaker, who joined Liverpool from Inter Milan for 8.5 million pounds ($11.03 million) in 2013, and have already had an initial bid worth 80 million euros rejected by Liverpool last month.
