STAYED OUT
Brazilian has a ruptured left hamstring
Published on January 2, 2025 at 4:46 pm
Neymar in Al-Hilal training Credit: Al-Hilal/Disclosure
Neymar did not participate in Al-Hilal’s first training session in 2025, after the New Year celebrations, because of a stomach ache, as reported by the Saudi club itself through a post on social media this Thursday. On Monday, he played a friendly match and scored a goal, after almost two months recovering from a ruptured left hamstring.
The injury was suffered in early November, around two weeks after the 32-year-old attacker recovered from a more serious problem. He was sidelined for more than a year after suffering a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee, in October 2023, in Brazil’s 2-0 defeat to Uruguay, in the World Cup qualifiers.
In Monday’s friendly, against Al Fayha, 17th in the Saudi Championship, Neymar helped Al-Hilal win 2-0. The number 10 scored the goal that opened the scoring, assisted by Malcom, and participated in the second goal, when he made a light screen that helped his compatriot receive the ball to finish and increase the score.
The Riyadh team’s first official match in 2025 will be on January 7th, against Al-Ittihad, in a duel valid for the quarter-finals of the Saudi King’s Cup. Neymar has a contract with Al-Hilal until June this year, so he can now sign a pre-contract with any club, a situation that has generated a lot of speculation about his future.
Santos, the team in which the striker shone at the beginning of his career, came up with a plan to repatriate him, according to Santos president Marcelo Teixeira at the end of last season. So far, however, the club on the coast of São Paulo has not had the most encouraging market.
