On his first appearance for Al-Hilal, Neymar was at the top of his game, scoring his side’s last 4 goals.

While PSG lost their Ligue 1 opener for the first time this season against OGC Nice (3-2), Neymar was taking his first steps at his new club. It didn’t take long for the Brazilian to delight his team and his team-mates. After coming on as a substitute just after the hour mark, with Al-Hilal already leading 2-0, the Seleçao’s top scorer played a part in his side’s last four goals to make his debut a resounding success (6-1 victory).

Just 4 minutes after his appearance, he first played a long pass to Malcom, who created the imbalance. All that remained for the former Bordeaux man was the final pass to Al Dawsari. A quarter of an hour later, Neymar provided the decisive pass for his compatriot, before provoking a penalty which Al Dawsari converted. Finally, it was Neymar again who hit the target before seeing the ball come back to Al Dawsari, who scored a hat-trick.

He may not have scored against Al Riyadh, but he was involved everywhere. It would be hard to imagine a better debut. Neymar is one of the best in the world and he showed that he is at another level technically,” says his coach Jorge Jesus. I played him for 30 minutes because he was with the Brazilian national team during the week and didn’t return until the day before the match. He was already thinking about the Champions League.

A direct reference to his Asian Champions League debut on Monday against Navbahor Namangan of Uzbekistan. “Despite the short training time with the players, we got an excellent result, with some great goals, and we’re already thinking about the next one,” concludes Jesus, who with this big win can pride himself on taking first place in the Saudi Pro League, one point ahead of Al-Ittihad, led by a certain Karim Benzema. A good omen for the future.

Just Pascal