Al Hilal fans boo club icon as Neymar denied penalty kick on Saudi Pro League debut

Neymar has officially made his Saudi Pro League debut but fans of the Brazilian weren’t impressed that he was denied a goal on his first game.

Earlier this summer, the former Paris Saint-Germain star joined Jorge Jesus’ Al Hilal for an eye-watering sum of £77.6million.

On Friday, 15 September, Neymar got his first taste of football in the Middle East as he came off the bench for midfielder Michael in the 64th minute.

And while the Brazilian - who recently surpassed Pele to become the top male Brazilian goalscorer - registered an assist, he was unfortunately denied his first goal.

In the 87th minute of the game against Al Riyadh, Al Hilal was awarded a penalty kick and Neymar stepped up to the plate.

However, despite the 31-year-old being ready and waiting to take the kick, he was swapped out for club legend Salem Al-Dawsari.

The winger has an incredible 223 caps for his childhood club but fans in the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium believed that the 32-year-old had robbed Neymar of his golden opportunity.

In video footage posted to X (formerly Twitter), an echo of boos could be heard making their way around the stadium as the winger headed towards the ball.

BREAKING: NEYMAR DEBUT - AL-HILAL PLAYER BOOED FOR NOT LETTING HIM TAKE THE PENALTY pic.twitter.com/gg6RPMTnnE

— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) September 15, 2023

However, Al-Dawsari didn’t let the negativity deter him and quickly scored his first goal of the game, with his second coming later in the 95th minute.

With the crowd appeased, Neymar immediately joined the winger in celebrating the goal - showing that there were no hard feelings.

Following Al-Dawsari’s strike, Al Hilal eventually went on to win 6-1 - thus sending them to the top of the Saudi Pro League table.

Social media users have since been having their say on the viral footage and what they make of the crowd booing one of their own.

One X user wrote: “Hold up they are booing AL-DAWSARI?? Swear he’s their club legend and their nations best player, that’s actually quite sad.”

A second said: “Booing a club legend who represented your country well at the World Cup for a newbie even tho it's Neymar is insane.”

“Fans showing (sic) their true colours now,” commented a third.

Another fan gave their opinion on the negative reaction: “Probably a lot of people that aren't diehard fans just wanted to see Neymar.

“The same would happen if they didn't let Messi take the (sic) PK in that first game,” they added

Neymar and Al Hilal are due to face Navbahor in the AFC Champions League group stage on Monday, 18 September before coming up against Damac in the league on Thursday, 21 September.

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