NEYMAR’S sister’s birthday curse has struck for the tenth time as the forward miss his first Santos match.
Rafaella Santos celebrates her birthday on March 11.
Neymar’s sister’s birthday curse has struck again[/caption]
Injury forced Neymar out of Santos’ match against Corinthians[/caption]
Neymar has missed a match around the date every year for ten years[/caption]
And Neymar has missed a match around that date every year for the last ten years.
He has struggled for fitness in recent years since tearing his ACL shortly after signing for Al-Hilal.
But those issues appeared to be behind him as Neymar featured in seven out of seven games for Santos since returning to the club at the end of January.
However he was unable to play in Santos’ Campeonato Paulista semi-final defeat to Corinthians.
Neymar, 33, explained his absence was due to a feeling of discomfort.
He wrote on Instagram: “All I wanted was to be on the field today and help my teammates in some way… but last Thursday, I felt some discomfort, which kept me from playing today. We did a test this morning, and I felt it again!
“Unfortunately, this is part of football… It didn’t work out today, but we’ll come back even stronger to fight for our goals!”
It has become a recurring theme for Neymar to be unavailable around March 11 since 2014.
Games Neymar has missed on his sister’s birthday
2013/14 – Neymar was an unused substitute for Barcelona on March 16 during his year at Barcelona.
2014/15 – Picked up a yellow card which led to a suspension on March 8.
2015/16 – Ruled out with a suspension returning on March 12.
2016/17 – Unavailable for a match on March 12 due to a muscular injury.
2017/18 – Neymar missed the remainder of the season from February having suffered a metatarsal fracture.
2018/19 – The Brazilian star was ruled out again for the same issue as the previous year but only the whole of February and March this time.
2019/20 – Surprisingly played and scored on March 11 in a 2-0 win over Dortmund in a Champions League tie.
2020/21 – Missed a Ligue 1 fixture on March 13 with having sustained a muscular injury in the game prior.
2022/23 – Missed PSG’s 2-1 win at Brest on March 12, after injuring his ankle ligaments in a nasty tackle following PSG’s 4-3 win over Lille. That injury ruled him out for the remainder of the season.
2023/24 – Pick up an ACL injury at Al-Hilal which ruled him out
2024/25 – Feeling of discomfort meant he missed Santos vs Corinthians
He has missed matches due to suspension but mostly because of injury, often unnamed muscle problems.
Santos coach Pedro Caixinha defended Neymar’s absence, saying: “Our commitment is to do everything within our reach to prevent Neymar from getting injured.
“And some discomfort is not an injury. He wasn’t in condition to give his best. Now, we’re not going to create an issue where none exists.”
