Brazil international Neymar picked up a thigh injury in Al-Hilal’s AFC Champions League game against Esteghlal FC on Monday, just two weeks after making his return to the pitch following an ACL tear.
Neymar came on in the 58th minute of Al-Hilal’s 3-0 win over their Iranian opponent, but came off in the 87th minute with a thigh tear. The severity of the injury is currently unclear, as is the timeline for recovery. He was already omitted from Brazil’s roster for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers when it was named on Friday, which was unsurprising considering the timeline of his return to play after the ACL tear.
Monday’s game was only his second in the last year, spending much of that time working his way back from a ruptured ACL and meniscus in his left knee. He sustained the long-term injury in Oct. 2022 during Brazil’s loss to Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier, finally returning to play with a 13 minute cameo against Emirati side Al Ain in AFC Champions League action on Oct. 21.
This issue is only the latest for an injury-prone Neymar. Much of his tenure with Paris Saint-Germain from 2017 to 2023 was plagued by different spells on the sidelines, the most serious of which were a metatarsal fracture in early 2018 and an ankle injury that kept him out from Nov. 2021 to Feb. 2022.
He has also only played seven games for Al-Hilal since his blockbuster move to the Saudi Pro League during a summer of spending in the gulf nation, battling a variety of injuries. His Al-Hilal debut was delayed by about a month because of a muscle injury, and he only played five games last season before the ACL and meniscus tears.
