Who is Neymar's sister? Rafaella Santos and the 'curse' of her birthday

The Brazilian forward has an unfortunate habit of missing games for both PSG and Barcelona whenever his sibling's birthday rolls around

Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar has picked up a metatarsal fracture that will see him miss 10 weeks injured - which coincides with the birthday of his sister, Rafaella.

Fans have been quick to pick up on the curious pattern of Neymar missing games whenever it is time to celebrate his sibling's birthday, with the Brazilian missing matches around this time for the past few years.

Rafaella's birthday falls on March 11 and Neymar has been either injured or suspended for games surrounding that game since the 2014-15 season.

It's no secret that the samba star is incredibly close to his sister with the ex-Barcelona forward even having a tattoo of her face on his arm.

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Who is Rafaella Santos?

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Rafaella Santos is Neymar's 22-year-old sister, born on March 11, 1996. Despite her brother being one of the most recognisable faces in the world, Rafaella herself has become somewhat of a style icon with a successful modelling career that has seen her gain over 4.6 million followers on Instagram.

Rafaella has contributed a lot of her time to the charity Instituto Neymar. The Brazilian created the charity in 2014, which focuses on helping disadvantaged children who live in Praia Grande, Sao Paulo, located close to where the siblings were raised.

When Rafaella was born, her surname was Da Silva Santos, but as soon as she was old enough she legally changed it to Beckran. Brazilian outlet Globo claim the change was to pay homage to England legend David Beckham, whom she has idolised since she was a child.

Neymar's sister had previously been in a relationship with Inter forward Gabriel 'Gabigol' Barbosa but the couple reportedly broke up last year.

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What is the curse of Neymar's sister's birthday?

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Neymar's sister's birthday seemingly carries a curse of bad luck for the winger on the pitch. The Brazil captain is set to miss games for the fifth consecutive season around the time of her birthday.

Many joke that Neymar is purposefully skipping games around this time to spend time with his sister with Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos once making light of the situation.

"I like to play with the best and Neymar is one of them," he said, adding with a laugh: "What we would have to negotiate is his sister's birthday."

In 2015, the then-Barcelona star picked up his fifth booking of the season against Granada on February 28, meaning he was suspended for the match against Rayo Vallecano on March 8. Barca allowed him to travel to Brazil and he returned before their next game on March 14.

The following season, he picked up another suspension, this time against Rayo on March 3.

The Brazilian missed the match against Eibar on March 6 and headed back to Brazil once again to celebrate his sister's Disney-themed birthday party. He needed to get permission from Luis Enrique and Barcelona's captain Andres Iniesta, plus his three vice-captains - Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano.

Neymar clearly loves spending time with his family, especially surrounding his sister's birthday, expressing this on Instagram after one of the events.

He wrote: "This photo shows how happy I was yesterday. Watching my sister grow up and reconnecting with friends is priceless. I long for yesterday, what a moment."

The three seasons following this have seen Neymar have an injury-plagued March. Two broken metatarsals during that time putting him out of action for key games, such as last season's Champions League round of 16 second leg against Real Madrid, which PSG ultimately lost without him.

Neymar will now miss important European ties against Manchester United due to injury and, if PSG knock out Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men, the quarter-final matches are unlikely to feature the Brazilian.