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A classic Neymar goal fuelled Al Hilal’s first win in the AFC Champions League against Nassaji Mazandaran this Tuesday evening. Our Al Hilal Predicted Lineup vs Nassaji had tipped him to do so, as the Brazilian has now opened his account in Asia’s elite continental competition and will be hungry for more going forward.
Neymar goal fuels Al Hilal’s opening ACL win
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The Al Hilal forward became the latest Brazilian to score a goal in the AFC Champions League in his side’s dominant 3-0 win over Nassaji. The Saudi giants ran riot against the Iran side and Neymar helped double their lead with an instinctive strike in the second half.
The 31-year-old capitalized on some shaky defending by the hosts and linked up really well with Nasser Al Dawsari to get into the goal. He then let rip a thunderous left-footed strike into the bottom corner, leaving the goalkeeper no chance and helping add cushion to his side’s lead.
With the goal, Neymar has now ensured that he has scored in every competition in his career apart from the Saudi Pro League. However, he should get a goal in that division sooner rather than later for Al Hilal to maintain his impressive streak of scoring in a variety of competitions.
What record could Neymar target after first ACL goal?
Neymar has notched up a number of impressive achievements all through his star-studded career. He is one of the few players in history to score at least 100 goals for three different clubs in his career. He is, of course, the all-time highest-scorer for the Brazilian national team too, with 79 international goals to his name.
He just loves adding to his impressive set of achievements and will look to do so for Al Hilal as well. With that being said, it might be quite difficult for him to become the club’s all-time top scorer – a record that is held by Saudi legend Yasser Al-Qahtani with 129 goals.
But there is one possible AFC Champions League feat that he could target to achieve during his stint with Al Hilal. Neymar signed a two-year contract with the Saudi club when he joined from PSG in the summer, meaning he can play in the ACL for this campaign and the 2024/25 one as well.
That gives him a realistic chance of becoming the highest-scoring Brazilian player in the competition’s history. That would definitely get him into the history books and ensure that his stint at Al Hilal remains memorable well beyond his departure.
How many goals does Neymar need to break the record?
The current highest Brazilian goal-scorer in the AFC Champions League history is the now-retired attacking midfielder, Ricardo Goulart. He scored 25 goals in the ACL with Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande in his six years with the club. That means Neymar will need to score at least 24 more goals to tie his record and 25 goals to become the highest-scoring Brazilian in the competition’s history.
Now, if Al Hilal reach the AFC Champions League finals this season – then Neymar has a maximum number of 12 more games to play. The ACL has a two-legged final, so players essentially get an extra game to score more goals.
If not this season, Neymar can also try to break this record next season in the AFC Champions League and guide Al Hilal to glory. Even if he ends up making as many as 30 ACL appearances by the end of the 24/25 season, the Brazilian will still need to be extremely clinical and efficient to break this record.
For the time being, Neymar will probably have a ‘one game at a time’ mentality in the Champions League. His ultimate motive remains to win Al Hilal the competition after losing in the final last season. But knowing his hunger for records, Neymar will at least try his best to become the highest Brazilian goal-scorer in AFC Champions League history.
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