Neymar said it felt good to be back after his late cameo off the bench in Al Hilal’s extraordinary 5-4 win against Al Ain in the AFC Champions League Elite.
The Brazil forward was brought on in the 76th minute of the West Region group match at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium.
It was his first match action in almost exactly a year since he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament while on international duty.
“I feel good,” Neymar said in a short clip on the Saudi Pro League club’s social media feed after the final whistle.
“It’s so hard, Al Ain have a good team. But I’m so happy. I’m back.”
In a wildly fluctuating game, Neymar actually got far longer on the field than his coach, Jorge Jesus, had intended.
Al Hilal are aiming to ease their star player back to full fitness. His workload is likely to be gentle for some time yet, given he is not registered as part of the club’s Saudi Pro League squad until January.
It means his appearances will be largely consigned to their group games in the Champions League. They have three more of those between now and the end of year, with the visit of Iranian side Esteghlal to Riyadh next on November 4.
After such a significant injury and lengthy lay off, Neymar’s comeback is likely to be staged in increasing spells of game time.
Initially, that meant a 15-minute appearance at the end of the game in Al Ain. However, such was the craziness of the game, he was actually on the field for 26 minutes, as the referee was forced to play 12 minutes of stoppage time due to all the drama.
In the time he was on the field, there was a sending off for Al Hilal centre back Ali Al Bulayhi, a penalty, and a goal, while Neymar himself had a number of shooting opportunities on the break.
He also had time to execute one exquisite trademark nutmeg near the touchline, just in front of where his young daughter was sat with her mother.
“When I put Neymar in it was 5-3, there was a two-goal difference, there were spaces,” Jesus, Al Hilal’s coach, said.
“But the red card came right after the substitution, which left us with one striker less, so [Aleksandr] Mitrovic had to leave the field. We then had less offensive power to the team.
“I need to prepare Neymar through the games; that’s the only possible means to bring him to his level, which was the idea today.
“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 to the highest level.”
Neymar’s appearance was just one – highly significant – footnote to a game that was packed with incidents.
There were hat-tricks for two outstanding forwards, Hilal’s Salem Al Dawsari and Al Ain’s Soufiane Rahimi, plus further goals for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Renan Lodi and Mateo Senabria.
Despite losing and now being precariously placed on one point from three group matches so far, Al Ain’s players were applauded by their fans for the fight they had showed in defeat.
“It was a great [advert] for football,” Hernan Crespo, Al Ain’s manager, said. “I think anyone who had the opportunity to see the game will think the same.
“I am very proud of the performance of the team. It is not easy to play against, for me, the best team in Asia. They have great players.
“The performance of our team was really amazing. We played against great players with a lot of talent and a lot of quality, but we played in the other side of the pitch, we created a lot of chances and we fought for every single ball.
“Yes, of course, we conceded a little bit, but that is football. We are a team built to attack, and we need to concede something if we are going to play in the way Al Ain wants to play, and to attack and create chances.”
