Neymar stunned by appalling state of pitch Al-Hilal will play on in Asian Champions League
NEYMAR was left in total disbelief after seeing the state of a pitch he is expected to play on for new club Al-Hilal.
The Brazilian superstar left Paris Saint-Germain for the Saudi Arabian club in a £77.6million move this summer.
He was one of a number of high-profile arrivals at Al-Hilal, joining the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
The 31-year-old is yet to get off the mark in his league appearances but will be hoping to fire them to success in the AFC Champions League.
They travel to Iran this week to take on Nassaji Mazandaran but it seems that the Samba ace is not looking forward to the trip.
Shock footage went viral over the weekend of ground staff at Nassaji’s Azadi Stadium putting down strips of turf over what looked to be large areas of exposed concrete.
It did not take long for Neymar to see it, and he responded to the clip with a facepalm emoji along with a caption that read: “This is not possible.”
And his reaction led to supporters urging him to give tomorrow’s match a miss due to fears he could get hurt.
“Maybe sit this one out,” said one fan on X.
Another wrote: “Neymar don’t risk it bro that pitch looks like a death-trap.”
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A fellow fan commented: “The absolute state of that pitch.
“Neymar has gone from playing at the Parc des Princes to this garbage what a fall from grace.”
Rumours have been mounting that Neymar has not been seeing eye-to-eye with new manager Jorge Jesus, although the attacker has publicly rubbished those claims.
Al-Hilal have a rich history in the AFC Champions League and are the most-successful team in the competition.
The Riyadh-based club have lifted the trophy four times – the last of which was in 2021.