“I was told that with this progress, there is a big possibility that he will be back [on the pitch] by three to six months,” Shahril said at a media briefing on Wednesday. “This is based on what the doctors told me, the faster the better, that’s our hope.

“His recovery is very, very good. I was told that the skin grafting can only cover 70 per cent of the wounded area, but it was a miracle that he managed to get 100 per cent.”

Faisal had a three-hour skin allograft surgery on Monday which went “better than expected”, according to team doctor Muhammad Hazwan Khair, who also spoke at the media briefing.

Shahril said that another, more minor surgery will be performed on the player on Thursday.

“The doctors will observe Faisal’s condition tomorrow to determine if he can be discharged in the next few days,” he said.

Nicknamed “Mickey”, the 26-year-old player scored an equaliser against South Korea that was voted best goal of the 2023 Asian Cup.

Malaysia’s domestic football season was slated to begin on May 10 with a curtain raiser between Faisal’s Selangor and Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT).

Selangor pulled out, citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats”, but the league got under way.

Three days before the acid attack, another player, Akhyar Rashid, was injured in a robbery outside his home in the eastern state of Terengganu.

In a third incident, two days after the attack on Faisal, former Malaysia skipper Safiq Rahim escaped unharmed after he was threatened with a hammer and his car windscreen smashed by two assailants.

The mystery assaults have shocked and angered the football-crazy nation.

Police are continuing investigations with a motive yet to be determined.