At 32, Neymar’s career is the perfect story of what could have been. He had all the potential of a global superstar, and the Brazilian even made the Ballon d’Or list while still playing in his native Brazil for Santos. He was just too great a player.
Sadly, his best times came at Barcelona. His ill-advised move to PSG didn’t work out, and after six years at the club, the former MSN star moved to the Middle East, where he seemed to be enjoying football again until an unfortunate injury forced him out of Brazil’s qualifying match against Uruguay.
Neymar suffers an injury in Brazil vs. Uruguay
Neymar may have moved to the Middle East to get the last big paycheck of his career, but there’s no denying that escaping the pressure of being the most expensive footballer in the world at PSG was more important to him. He was made the scapegoat for the club’s failure to win the Champions League last season, alongside Lionel Messi, which led to their departure from the club in the last transfer window.
Neymar’s hopes of falling in love with football again in the Middle East have been dashed as he suffered an injury so serious that he had to be stretchered off the field in Brazil’s qualifying match against Uruguay earlier today. The former Barcelona star winger was in tears after going down in a duel for the ball, shortly before half-time, in what looked like a serious leg injury.
The Brazil international, who recently welcomed a new child, had only recently returned from an injury he sustained in March for PSG, and his latest injury report will be a major concern for Al-Hilal, who spent a fortune trying to bring the star to the Middle East.
Injuries have been a big problem for Neymar in recent years, and his multi-million-dollar move to Saudi Arabia has suffered a huge setback with an injury that could yet keep him out for a while.
Brazil lost their first World Cup qualifier since 2015
Neymar’s first-half injury greatly impacted the match’s result, as the Selecao were forced to play without their star man for the remainder of the game, per Goal. In Neymar’s absence, Uruguay cruised to a 2-0 win over Brazil to hand them their first World Cup qualifier loss since 2015.
This was the second time in a row that Brazil would drop points in this year’s qualifier after drawing their last game against Venezuela at home. With this loss, Brazil now sit third on the CONMEBOL table, five points behind Argentina, who have not lost a qualifying game this year.
Brazil will now prepare to get back to winning ways when they travel to Colombia in the next international break.
Will Neymar’s injury force him to miss Brazil’s next match?
