PARISIENNE RENAISSANCE
Few PSG fans would have cared if Brazilian superstar had left last year. Now he has them dreaming of glory
THiS is how neymar imagined it would be when he first arrived in Paris — a city Pele had always loved — and moved into the same mansion, in the fashionable bougival neighbourhood, where his boyhood idol ronaldinho once lived.
After tuesday night’s victory over Leipzig had sent Paris Saint- Germain to within 90 minutes of a first Champions League crown, the 28-year- old was centre stage — clutching a portable music system as he led the team, singing from the team coach to the entrance of Hotel des Parisiens, their Lisbon base.
the brazilian’s on-field contributions — an outrageous backheel assist for the second goal, the repeated closing down of the keeper, the rush to congratulate Juan bernat after not getting the final touch on his goal-bound shot — told the world that this is a new neymar. A team player, now, and no longer the brooding, show-boating individualist.
L’Equipe led the adulation yesterday, detailing how neymar has been by far the Champions League’s outstanding dribbler, surpassing Lionel Messi by that measure. yet just a year ago, when the same player seemed likely to leave, the same paper was devoting its front cover to a mock- up of him wearing barcelona shades, beneath the headline ‘Le Grand bluff’ — ‘the big Lie’. it ridiculed the notion that a two-year break clause in his contract offered him an easy route out of Paris.
Few would have been sorry had there been one because neymar’s first two years at the club were frankly miserable. there were occasional moments of brilliance. but two serious injuries in the Januarys of 2017 and 2018 meant he had been peripheral to the club’s decisive Champions League ties. two tame shots were the sum total of the only one he had previously featured in: a desperate 3- 1 defeat at the bernabeu. He seemed to think he was too big for the club and the city.
More than 48,000 fans attended a welcome event hosted by the DJ Martin Solveig to introduce him but boos were audible in April last year, when he re-appeared after his second major injury to play in the Coupe de France final against rennes, which PSG lost. An infuriated fan told neymar he should learn how to play football. He punched him in the face.
the player’s current renaissance is the talk of France. He is performing and leading now, inviting players to his house for social gatherings which observers feel have created the much- needed bond lacking throughout the nine years of big Qatari spending at PSG. the barbecue he hosted for players and their partners before the round of 16 second leg against borussia Dortmund seems to have been particularly significant, as the team vowed to each other to do better this time.
the change is in part borne of a realisation that there is no easy way out of Paris. He needed real Madrid or barcelona to part with at least £200million to get him back to Spain last summer because of the humiliation his departure would have heaped on PSG’s Qatari president nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Al-Khelaifi has since taken a far firmer line with the player. At last summer’s low point, when neymar’s attack on the fan had been followed by allegations, later dropped, that he had sexually assaulted a brazilian model, Al-Khelaifi told L’Equipe that he would not tolerate ‘celebrity behaviour’ any more. ‘nobody forced him to sign,’ AlKhelaifi declared. ‘ nobody pushed him. He knew what he was signing up for.’
At 28, neymar may also finally have matured and come to realise that he is nearer the end of his career than the beginning. Many, including the French football journalist Julien Laurens, ascribe significance to the way that PSG manager thomas tuchel has assigned the player a leadership role in the
‘He seemed to think he was too big for the club and the city’
dressing room — in a way that his predecessor Unai Emery did not.
But the relationship between the Brazilian and the prodigy seven years his junior is arguably the most significant of all. One of the clips widely circulating yesterday captured him and Kylian Mbappe’s wild celebrations together chanting the Portuguese words, ‘Pai ta na final’ (‘ Daddy’s going to the final!’) in the dressing room after the 3-0 semi-final win.
On the training ground, there is a competitive intensity between them, as the team’s two outstanding talents. At a session two days before the quarter-final, Mbappe pushed neymar with both hands when the latter was reluctant to get out of his way after losing the ball to him. A few minutes later, neymar tackled the 21-year-old so strongly that the young striker, only just back after a broken ankle, had to take evasive action.
But both laughed and joked after each exchange and the bond is evident to all who watch PSG at close quarters. neymar clearly sees Mbappe as someone at his level. Mbappe sees neymar as a rich source of goal- scoring opportunities.
‘We are having fun,’ Mbappe said, when asked about neymar late on Wednesday night. ‘We care less about our individual careers. If we want to win, it’s together.’
In the quarter- final against Atalanta, Mbappe played only 30 minutes but neymar created six chances for him.
The pair’s relationship is the ‘strong point’ of the team, Tuchel said earlier this week. ‘It’s an exceptional mixture between
“ney”, a one-onone player, who dribbles and can give assists like no one else, and Kylian, who has speed, timing, finishing,’ he said. ‘ In each team, you have small connections. The two together are exceptional. “ney” is a little bit different as a leader. He has quality; a lot of confidence in the field.’
With his acute sense of Brazilian football history, neymar will not need reminding that Pele’s love of Paris was borne of the French press coining the name ‘O Rei’ (‘The King’) for him after his performance in the 1958 World Cup.
The question ahead of Sunday’s final is whether anyone in the French ranks can actually summon the emotional energy to raise themselves to the level once again. Their celebrations on Wednesday night, shared through PSG’s Instagram live account, looked like those of a team who had already won the Champions League.
The former PSG coach Luis Fernandez thinks neymar will be decisive. ‘He is taking his role of leader,’ he said. ‘He has maturity. He is pulling everyone up. You see him when he takes a hit and falls. He gets up very quickly. He wants to be the one you can count on.’