Neymar injured again – but he expected it

Neymar's annual income at Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal is 100 million euros. But since moving to a club that has also been interested in Messi for a long time in the summer of 2023, he has only made seven appearances on the pitch. The cause was a torn cruciate ligament that kept him out of action for more than a year.

The 32-year-old finally made a brief return in the AFC Champions League two weeks ago. Neymar has not been in the squad for either of the two league games over the past two weekends, including Al Nasr's match against Cristiano Ronaldo. Yesterday Monday, the Brazilian was substituted again in the 58th minute of the match against Iran's Esteghlal Football Club. But he didn't last long on the court. In the 87th minute, he was substituted again due to injury.

For nearly 30 minutes, he tried to have as little contact with his opponent as possible. Neymar remains concerned about re-injury in his second appearance after a long break. Excerpts from the match show how he always avoided a possible duel. However, in the final stages of Al Hilal's 3-0 win, he felt pain in his right thigh after being fouled by his opponent.

It's unclear how serious Neymar's injury is and whether he will be sidelined again. However, his coach Jesus said after the game that Neymar will be out for at least two weeks. It was the muscle that was injured, not the knee, which he tore his cruciate ligament a year ago.

The offensive player himself gave the all-clear on Instagram and said he expected complications. “It's normal for something like this to happen after a year, the doctor has warned me,” said the 128-cap international, who has already shown some skills in limited playing time.

Now he has to be careful and get more and more playing time. Neymar is also used to missing previous teams such as Paris Saint-Germain or Barcelona due to injury. Neymar explained that the injury sustained during Monday's Champions League game felt “like a really bad cramp,” adding: “I'll do some tests and hopefully it's nothing serious.” (NIH)