When Al Hilal finally ended their extended pursuit of a top-class marquee signing to match those of Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr and Al Ittihad's Karim Benzema, fans were elated that a summer search that saw their club flirt with the likes of Bernardo Silva and Victor Osimhen ended with them landing the player who would soon be Brazil’s all-time top scorer.
But for anyone who had watched the career of the flamboyant forward, from his early days at Santos, to the highs of Barcelona’s unstoppable MSN trio alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, to the short-lived triple threat alongside Messi and Kylian Mbappe at PSG, Neymar’s injury record was the standout concern.
Since the start of 2018, Neymar had missed a total of 144 matches for club and country, an average of just under 29 matches that he was unavailable for every calendar year. By comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo, six years his senior, missed only 20 matches through injury during the same period.
Indeed, when Al Hilal announced the signing of the iconic number 10, they had to manage the expectations of their supporters, with the Brazilian still recovering from ankle surgery he underwent in March.
Al Hilal fans had to wait for a month before they could see their prized asset in action, making his debut off the bench in the 6-1 thumping of Al Riyadh, where played for 26 minutes and provided an assist for his compatriot Malcom.
Over the course of the next three weeks, he would start and complete 90 minutes on four occasions between the Saudi Pro League and the AFC Champions League, contributing a goal and an assist as he gradually started to adapt to life in Saudi Arabia.
The Brazilian had to be left out of the squad for the trip to Al Okhdood as he instead flew to Sao Paulo to celebrate the birth of his daughter Mavie with girlfriend Bruna Biancardi.
Little did Al Hilal know that it would be the last they see of their new talisman in a while. With the international break rolling around just after, Neymar linked up with his national team, setting up Gabriel Magalhaes’ goal with from a corner as the Selecao drew with Venezuela 1-1.
On Tuesday night, Neymar was carried off the pitch in agony after picking up what looked like a potentially serious knee injury after tussling for the ball with Nicolas De la Cruz.
Despite no official confirmation yet, Neymar could be out of action for an extended period, delivering a blow to Al Hilal’s hopes of regaining the Saudi Pro League title they had lost to Al Ittihad last season.
Nine games into the season, Al Hilal sit top of the table, but their lead on second-placed Al Taawoun is a solitary point, with Al Nassr, Al Ittihad and Al Ahli breathing down their necks.
In their next six games, Al Hilal face Al Taawoun as well as powerhouses Al Ahli and Al Nassr, two of the title favourites. Sandwiched in between those difficult SPL games are AFC Champions League trips to India and Uzbekistan where they face Mumbai City and a Navbahor side that had held them to a 1-1 draw in Riyadh last month.
Neymar’s four goal contributions in six matches is far from the highest in the team, but since he took his place in the starting XI, the Brazilian has made a notable impact on the quality and level of creativity in Jorge Jesus’ side, slotting seamlessly into the number 10 position in front of Ruben Neves and Sergei Milinkovic-Savic and playing off the main striker Aleksandar Mitrovic.
In his absence, midfielder Mohammed Kanno and winger Michael could be the main beneficiaries, with the former likely to be deployed to anchor the midfield in bigger games and the latter taking up a role on the wing should Salem Al Dawsari be moved centrally as the most advanced of the midfield three.
For Al Hilal fans, just as was the case with those of Barcelona and PSG, possessing one of the games most talented players ever is always a blessing and a pain as it is inevitable that whatever club he represents, will have to learn to navigate extended stretches of the season without him.
It is now time for Jesus to go through that experience and carve a path forward for Al Hilal to remain competitive without their star player.
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NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
Planes grounded by coronavirus
British Airways: Cancels all direct flights to and from mainland China
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific: Cutting capacity to/from mainland China by 50 per cent from Jan. 30
Chicago-based United Airlines: Reducing flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong
Ai Seoul: Suspended all flights to China
Finnair: Suspending flights to Nanjing and Beijing Daxing until the end of March
Indonesia's Lion Air: Suspending all flights to China from February
South Korea's Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air and Jin Air: Suspend all flights
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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'Peninsula'
Stars: Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Ra
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Rating: 2/5
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
