ICONIC Brazilian Neymar was predicted to miss his sides Ligue 1 fixture today against Bordeaux – and not through injury.
The talented attacker’s track record has proven that he is often unavailable for matches around March 11.
Neymar couldn’t guide superstar studded PSG to a win over Real Madrid Credit: Rex
Neymar often misses matches around this time of the year for his sister’s birthday Credit: Instagram @neymarjr And this is due to the annual celebrations of his younger sister Rafaella Santos’ birthday which Neymar seems to prioritise above everything else.
But will it be any different this time around?
Is Neymar playing against Bordeaux? In addition to being one of the world’s most talented footballers, Neymar is famously known for conveniently missing matches around his sister’s birthday (March 11).
So alarms bells were ringing when PSG’s round of 16 second leg tie against Real Madrid was scheduled for March 9.
However, despite the French giants crashing out courtesy of a Karim Benzema hat-trick, the Brazilian did played for the entire 90 minutes.
And to further surprise everyone, Neymar has been included from the start in PSG’s match this afternoon – only TWO days after Rafaella’s day of celebration.
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How many games has Neymar missed on his sister’s birthday and is he injured? What is ‘the curse’ and has it been broken? Neymar’s sister’s birthday has been labelled jokingly as a curse due to the Brazilian superstar consecutively missing games around that date.
And this is something which has occurred in seven of the last eight seasons.
Even Sergio Ramos made light of the scenario during his press conference after signing for the French champions in the summer,
The legendary defender said: “I like to play with the best and Neymar is one of them. What we have to negotiate is his sister’s birthday.”
But it seems as if Brazil’s second all-time top goal scorer has broken the curse by deciding to figure in PSG’s encounter this afternoon.
Or did Rafaella opt to calling off the celebrations because of the drama surrounding her birthday?
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
