LISBON, Aug 21, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain’s fortunes in the
Champions League in recent years have been inextricably linked to those of
Neymar, even before they bought the Brazilian for a world record fee, and if
he maintains his recent form in Sunday’s final it may make the difference
against formidable Bayern Munich.
At 28, Neymar is desperate to get his hands on another Champions League
winner’s medal, five years after he won the competition with Barcelona.
If he can play the starring role in a PSG victory — while Cristiano
Ronaldo’s Juventus were absent altogether from the ‘Final Eight’ and Lionel
Messi and Barcelona went home in disarray — he will perhaps be accepted as
the best player in the world, even with no Ballon d’Or in this pandemic year.
It would be good timing for Netflix too, with the streaming service
currently working on a documentary series about his season in Paris according
to reports in Brazil.
And for PSG and their Qatari owners, it would validate their decision to
pay 222 million euros ($264 million) to take him from Barcelona three years
ago, after his first two seasons in the French capital were overshadowed by
injury and constant reports that he was unsettled.
When Paris signed him in August 2017, they were still reeling in the wake
of their spectacular Champions League exit against Barcelona a few months
earlier.
After a stunning 4-0 win in the first leg of that last-16 tie, PSG
collapsed in the return at the Camp Nou. Barcelona scored three times after
the 88th minute, with Neymar hitting two of them, as Barcelona won 6-1. PSG
went out, humiliated.
It was not the first time PSG had been stung by Neymar — when the sides
met in the quarter-finals in 2015, he scored the first goal as Barca won 3-1
in France and then scored both in a 2-0 second-leg win.
– Melodrama –
But Neymar’s first two years at the Parc des Princes were one long
melodrama.
A brilliant player who was happy at Barcelona but had been eager to step
out of Messi’s shadow, he never appeared at ease in his new surroundings.
By the summer of 2019 it was no secret he wanted to leave. The move had
been a mistake, but then it became clear the transfer back to Barcelona would
not happen.
His first campaign in Paris was ruined by a fractured metatarsal which
meant he could not help PSG try to overturn a 3-1 first-leg deficit in their
Champions League last-16 tie against Real Madrid.
Fast forward to 2019 and a new foot injury forced him to miss both legs of
the last-16 defeat by Manchester United.
PSG lost on away goals after conceding a late penalty at home in the second
leg. Neymar, watching on, took to Instagram to insult the referee and
received a three-match ban.
He did not appear again in a Champions League game for PSG until a 2-2 draw
against Real last November. By which time he had accepted his situation and
knuckled down.
Now he is central to everything PSG are doing. He is happy too, especially
alongside Kylian Mbappe.
“We are more or less the same age and we have a laugh together off the
pitch. We hit it off straight away,” says Mbappe, who is 21.
“We respect each other, we have a lot of fun. We are also less focused on
ourselves now and more worried about the other guys around us, because we
understand that we need everyone else to be able to win. We can’t do it with
just the two of us.”
Neymar scored in both legs against Borussia Dortmund in the last 16 and
cried afterwards. He was excellent against Atalanta in the quarter-finals and
magnificent against RB Leipzig in the semi-finals, even if he did not score
in either game.
PSG will hope Neymar — who has scored 70 times altogether in 84 matches
for them — has been saving his next goal for the final.
“I hope that the good lord will help him to score on Sunday and us to win,”
said his compatriot Thiago Silva.