News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 22nd October 2024
After more than a year off, Brazil’s great Neymar made his comeback on Monday. The Al Hilal forward came on as a second-half substitute in his team’s thrilling 5-4 victory over Asian champions Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. While on international duty in October of last year, the 32-year-old former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward ruptured his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, preventing him from playing. With 79 goals in 128 games, Neymar, who had surgery and a protracted recuperation period, is his nation’s all-time top scorer.
At the 76-minute mark of the Asian Champions Elite match at a packed Hazzan Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, he was named on the Hilal bench for the first time since his injury. The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are the record four-time Asian champions, were ahead 5-3 at that point owing to goals from Salem Al Dawsari, Renan Lodi, and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. It won’t be possible to register Neymar for the Saudi Premier League until January.
“I need to prepare Neymar with games; that’s the only possible means to bring him to his level, which was the idea today,” Hilal coach Jorge Jesus said. “There are some risks for the team because we need to use the games to prepare him, but it’s the only way to have one of our important players back at the highest level,” the Portuguese boss added.
Aleksandar Mitrovic, a former striker for Fulham and Newcastle United, played in Lodi down the left on Monday, and the former Atletico Madrid full-back sent a low shot past Khalid Essa in the Al Ain goal to give Hilal the lead at the 26-minute mark. But six minutes prior to halftime, Morocco international Soufiane Rahimi’s dipping cross gave Hernan Crespo’s team a point. Rahimi, who finished first in scoring and was awarded player of the tournament, was the highlight of Al Ain’s Asian Champions League victory the previous season.
