French bliss for Neymar on PSG bow
Guingamp 0 Paris Saint-Germain 3
NEYMAR wasted no time in repaying a chunk of his worldrecord £200million fee by providing a goal and an assist on his debut.
The most expensive player in history, lured from Barcelona by wages of £50m a year, took his bow in Guingamp, a French backwater with a population of just 7,000.
The Brazilian showed exactly why Paris SaintGermain’s Qatari owners triggered the release clause by setting up Edinson Cavani in the 62nd minute.
He brought the house down, eight minutes from time, by scoring himself to make it 3-0 to the visitors. The 25-yearold started in his favoured No.10 shirt – kindly donated by teammate Javier Pastore, who was left on the bench.
And there were some tricks and flicks in the centre circle during the warm-up to whet the appetite of the 700 chanting PSG fans who had made the trip. Neymar (arriving at the Roudourou stadium, right) started on the left behind Cavani, with former Manchester United winger Angel Di Maria on the right.
Neymar could, of course, have been involved in yet another El Clasico with Barca, against Real Madrid, in the Spanish Super Cup last night.
Instead, he came in for some rough treatment early on from Guingamp’s Marcus Coco and Jordan Ikoko.
A bit of magic saw the Brazilian tee-up Marquinhos with a delightful cross, but the centre-back could only head against the bar with the goal gaping. And one mazy run into the area saw Neymar appealing for a penalty that never came after more uncompromising defending. PSG took the lead after 52 minutes as Ikoko planted the ball past his own keeper from 10 yards.
Then the £200m man took centre stage with his assist and goal to seal a comfortable win for the Parisians.