Picture Credit: X
A video on social media has gone viral in which Neymar Jr, the Brazilian footballing superstar, had a fan allegedly steal a valuable ring worth €15,000 off his finger when he stepped on to the pitch to warm-up for Al-Hilal’s AFC Champions League Elite match against Esteghlal at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. While various media outlets labelled it as ring theft, Neymar took to his official Instagram account to dismiss these claims, stating that there have been three false stories about him which appeared online this week alone.
Notably, in the footage, when Neymar was shaking hands with a few of the fans at the Kingdom Arena before making his way to the pitch, one of them held his right hand tightly for a couple of seconds, and moments later, the Brazilian seemingly looked at his hand as if something was missing. But, despite that, the 32-year-old remarked that there was no foul play before accusing the media of sensationalising the incident and fabricating the ring theft angle.
You guys are crazy! Just this week, three false stories have appeared: Neymar
In a comment on his official Instagram account, Neymar addressed the alleged ring theft rumour, and said, “You guys are crazy! Just this week, three false stories have appeared.” He also made a clarification that there was no ring in his finger when the handshake with the fan happened ahead of Al-Hilal’s clash against Esteghlal in the AFC Champions League Elite on Monday, November 4.
Neymar also spoke about how Brazil didn’t treat him well during the tough time in his career, which saw him being sidelined from football for a year before returning to the sport just a couple of weeks ago. “It's hard for such a big page with millions of followers to spread lies. It's a shame that Brazil treats me like this,” Neymar wasn’t pleased with the social media pages in the country recently either.
Moreover, the AFC Champions League Elite match was a one-sided affair which saw Al-Hilal beat Esteghlal 3-0 with a hat-trick from Aleksandar Mitrovic, but at the same time, Neymar was seemingly injured during this game while coming on as a substitute.
