The notorious birthday of Neymar's sister has been beaten for the tenth time because the attacker missed his first Santos match at the weekend.
Rafaella Santos celebrates her big day on March 11.
And it has become an ongoing joke in football that Neymar always seems to be grabbing and injury or suspension to coincide with festivities.
There is no indication that the legend of Brazil does it on purpose.
But the trip from Santos to Corinthians on Sunday evening marked the tenth time in the last 11 seasons that he missed the match closest to Rafaella's birthday.
Neymar suffered a devastating injury in 2023 when he tore his ACL shortly after his enormous money moved to Al-Hilal and was hardly visible in front of the Saudi club.
But those issues finally seemed to be behind him, as Neymar was seen in seven of the seven games before Santos since his emotional return to his boys' club at the end of January.
However, he could not play in Santos' Campeonato Paulista semi-final defeat against Corinthians.
Neymar, 33, explained that his absence was due to a feeling of discomfort.
He wrote on Instagram: “I just wanted to be on the field and help my teammates somehow … but last Thursday I felt some discomfort, which made me not play today. We did a test this morning and I felt it again!
“Unfortunately this is part of football … It didn't work out today, but we will come back even more to fight for our goals!”
He has missed competitions because of the suspension, but especially because of injuries, often not mentioned muscle problems.
Santos coach Pedro Caixinha defended Neymar's absence and said: “Our commitment is to do everything within our reach to prevent Neymar from being injured.
“And some discomfort is not an injury. He was unable to do his best. Now we are not going to create a problem where there is no existence.”
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