Neymar (32, Al-Hilal), a “superstar” who was out of power due to a knee injury in October last year and returned for the first time in more than a year, was replaced by muscle pain behind his thigh again two games after his return.
Neymar was substituted in the 13th minute of the second half when his team was leading 2-0 at the fourth home game of the 2024-25 Asian Champions League Elite (ACLE) League stage at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday (Korea time). However, Neymar was replaced after right footed out to receive a pass from the left side of the penalty area at around 42 minutes in the second half. Neymar played for only 29 minutes.
Neymar, who injured his left knee in the fourth away match of the 2026 North American World Cup South American qualifying round against Uruguay on October 18 last year, underwent reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament and surgery to repair the damaged meniscus in November, before going into long-term rehabilitation. Neymar, who joined the team’s training for the first time in about a year, played as a substitute in the 32nd minute of the second half in the third match of the ACLE League Stage against Al Ain (UAE) on the 22nd of last month, and made his return for the first time in 369 days. At that time, Neymar seemed to show his robustness by playing 27 minutes, including extra time, but was excluded from the lineup for the fourth consecutive game, and then again suffered from bad injury in his second match. 스포츠토토
Al-Hilal won 3-0 thanks to Aleksandar Mitrovic’s performance that enabled Al-Hilal to take the lead in West Asia with four consecutive wins at the ACLE League stage. Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli (12 points) had the same score as Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia, but were leading in goal difference. However, Al-Hilal could not smile as much as he could due to Neymar’s injury.