Neymar returned to action for Al-Hilal's hard-fought 5-4 win over UAE Pro League side Al-Ain in the Asian Champions League on Monday.
The 32-year-old Brazil forward came on for the injured Nasser Al-Dawsari in the 77th minute with his team leading 5-3 thanks to Salem Al-Dawsari's hat-trick and goals from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Renan Lodi.
He then came close to scoring after a counter-attack late on, before Al-Ain pulled one back in stoppage time with a penalty from Soufiane Rahimi, who also bagged a hat-trick.
"I feel good, it's so hard. I always have a good team. But I'm so happy. I'm back," said an emotional Neymar after the game at the Hazza bin Zayed stadium.
Neymar had not played for a year after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury during Brazil's qualifier against Uruguay. He underwent surgery last November.
Having moved to Saudi Arabia from French champions Paris St Germain for a reported €90 million transfer fee in August last year, Neymar had only played five games before his layoff as he was struggling with muscle injuries.
His €222m switch from Barcelona to PSG in 2017 remains the world record for a transfer.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.