Neymar watches PSG win season opener without him
The star was missing on the field, but the party went ahead successfully at the Parc des Princes on Saturday as host Paris Saint-Germain won its French league seasonopener.
Edinson Cavani and Javier Pastore took on the scoring responsibilities to ensure PSG got a winning start by beating promoted Amiens 2-0. It was only the fourth win in PSG’s past 12 season-opening games in Ligue 1.
Neymar was ineligible to play because of paperwork issues. The French league did not receive his international transfer certificate from the Spanish federation before Friday night’s deadline, despite his $262 million move from Barcelona being completed the previous day.
“All I know is that the club did everything to have the player’s transfer ratified,” PSG coach Unai Emery said. “He prepared for the game with the group, we waited until the very end. I don’t know if Spain did everything, but PSG did all it could.”
So Neymar, 25, was reduced to providing the prematch entertainment at the sold-out stadium.
“I’m happy to be here, I want to win many trophies with you,” Neymar said in Portuguese during a brief address to the crowd from a podium. “I will need your support.”
There was just one phrase in French — “Paris
est magique” (Paris is magic) — before he juggled a ball.
The Brazil international is now expected to make his debut next Sunday against Guingamp.
Without Neymar, Emery opted for a 4-3-3 formation with Pastore and Angel Di Maria supporting Cavani.
In other French league matches, Mariano Diaz, a newcomer from Real Madrid, scored two goals as Lyon thrashed promoted Strasbourg 4-0; and after securing a thirdplace finish last season, Nice has now lost five of its past six season-openers as Jonathan Bamba scored as Saint-Etienne won 1-0. German Supercup: Sven Ulreich saved two penalties as Bayern Munich defeated host Borussia Dortmund 5-4 in a shootout to win the German season opener.
The game went to penalties after Bayern scored late in a goalmouth scramble to earn a 2-2 draw in regular time.
U.S. national team forward Christian Pulisic had fired Dortmund into an early lead, but Robert Lewandowski equalized against his former club shortly afterward. PierreEmerick Aubameyang thought he’d won it for the home side, only for Joshua Kimmich’s shot to be deflected in via Lukasz Piszczek and Roman Buerki.
It was Bayern’s fourth Supercup since the match between league and cup winners was revived in 2010, and it reduced the pressure on Bayern after some poor preseason results. Carlo Ancelotti’s side lost 3-0 at home to English Premier League team Liverpool on Tuesday and followed it with a 2-0 defeat to Serie A side Napoli on Wednesday.