Neymar, Brazil’s all-time top scorer, made his Saudi Pro League debut for Al Hilal on Friday, entering the match at the end of the first half and playing the final 26 minutes of a 6-1 thrashing of al-Riyadh. The Al Hilal fans, who were awaiting the Brazilian’s arrival since the signing was announced, was disappointed to see not see Neymar in the scoresheet and jeered when Neymar didn’t take up a spot-kick opportunity.
Neymar along with some big names in world football made the switch to Saudi Arabia this summer. However, an injury to the forward kept him out of contention for Al Hilal game till now. He also did not feature for Brazil in the last international break. Notably, Brazil did not struggle without their talismanic forward and won both their matches against Bolivia and Ecuador in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers.
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Neymar was substituted on in the second half. His arrival was met with loud cheers from spectators who were waiting for the forward. Neymar was his happy self as he glided across the pitch.
However, a penalty opportunity soon arose for Al Hilal and the crowd waited in anticipation for Neymar to score his first goal for the club. To everyone’s surprise, winger Salem Aldawsari that stepped up to take it.
The decision was met with a round of jeers from the crowd, as home fans were unhappy that the big money purchase wouldn’t be taking the kick.
Aldawsari scored the penalty and Neymar joined the celebration with the rest of the Al Hilal team. Neymar also assisted a goal.
Al Hilal will hope Neymar soon gets his scoring boot on as he has done on multiple occasions in his career.
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