Neymar Lucky To Avoid Red Card On AFC Champions League Debut After Losing His Cool In Al-Hilal's Draw With Navbahor Namangan
Neymar made his AFC Champions League debut on Monday in Al-Hilal's Group D opener against Navbahor Namangan of Uzbekistan.
But the summer signing from Paris Saint-Germain was unable to mark the occasion with a goal as his team dropped two points in a 1-1 draw.
It was almost a lot worse for Neymar, who could easily have been sent off for an act of petulance during the second half in Riyadh when Al-Hilal were 1-0 down.
But he escaped with a yellow card before Al-Hilal netted an equalizer in the 10th minute of added time.
Al-Hilal captain Neymar pictured (center) being spoken to by the referee during Monday's AFC Champions League game against Navbahor Namangan
IMAGO/Power Sport Images/Strigner
Neymar - who won the UEFA Champions League in 2015 and scored 43 goals in 81 appearances in the European tournament for Barcelona and PSG - was making his second appearance for Al-Hilal in all competitions.
He had made his Saudi Pro League debut in Friday's 6-1 win over Al-Riyadh, exactly one month after signing from PSG for a transfer fee in the region of €90 million plus add-ons.
Fellow summer signings Malcom, Ruben Neves and Aleksandar Mitrovic started alongside Neymar on Monday in an attacking lineup that also included Brazilian forward Michael.
But the Saudi side failed to make a breakthrough during the first half on Monday, despite dominating possession with 76%.
Navbahor then took a shock lead 373 seconds after half-time when Toma Tabatadze finished off a quick counter-attack to find the net from his team's first shot on target.
Frustration began to get to Neymar and he lost his cool in the 60th minute.
Shortly after being fouled, Neymar pushed Navbahor midfielder Jamshid Boltaboev to the ground before kicking the ball at him from close range.
Emirati referee Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed punished the Al-Hilal captain with a yellow card, much to the relief of the majority of fans inside the King Fahd International Stadium.
Those fans were then celebrating a late equalizer when Ali Al-Bulayhi headed in from a Michael cross deep into added time.
Al-Hilal finished the game having recorded 20 shots - 15 more than Navbahor.
Neymar and Co's next opportunity to play for Champions League points will come on October 3 when they travel to Iran to face Nassaji Mazandaran, who won 2-0 away at Mumbai City earlier on Monday.