OOH LA LA, NEYMAR!
WHO can say for certain why it did not work for Angel Di Maria at Manchester United? What we do know is they missed out on one hell of a player.
He made the first, made the third, and scored the second. We know who the marquee names are for Paris Saint-Germain and, as far as public perceptions go, he is very much in a supporting role.
Yet to watch the front three in action last night, was to recognise them as equals. Neymar deferred to Di Maria, vitally, for a first-half free-kick. He looked every bit as dangerous near goal as Kylian Mbappe.
Together this trio drove PSG to their first Champions League final, and the first for a French club since 2004. And while, if they see off Lyon tonight, Bayern Munich will be favourites, a defence that looked vulnerable despite winning 8-2 against Barcelona are unlikely to be comfortable if PSG play like this. RB Leipzig had no answer to them really and the scoreline flattered the Germans. They have done magnificently to get this far, dispatching last season’s finalists, Spurs, and Atletico Madrid, conquerors of Liverpool, on the way.
But they were never in it here, PSG easing steadily away after taking the lead 13 minutes in. Three goals to the good with more than half an hour remaining, they eased up, otherwise it could have been a heavy defeat.
PSG had made hard work of Atalanta in their quarter-final but the first half here revealed a team that had shrugged off its inferiority complex in this competition, in a way Manchester City have not, and were ready to take their place among the European elite.
And why not? There has been an awful lot of establishment snobbery around this semi-final, a lot of sniping about new money and its ghastly influence.
RB Leipzig are despised in Germany for failing to conform to the preferred ownership model — the one that delivers the Bundesliga to Bayern wrapped in a bow for each of the last eight seasons — while the only reason PSG are tolerated by the elite is because Qatar as good as owns the game, through their broadcast outlets and sponsorships and the establishment are not so principled that they are going to challenge that. So they carp in private, or from the wings, while all the time banking the cheques. Yet new money has been a blessing for this tournament. It has given France a genuine contender at last, and delivered the eastern-most semi-finalist since Dynamo Kiev in 1999.
Why should the spoils bounce between the same teams, in the same countries, the same western cities? France, a wonderful football nation that exports its finest players around the world to light up competitions like the Premier League, have produced one — discredited — winner, with Marseille lifting the trophy in 1993 but later being exposed for match-fixing.
Leipzig would have been frozen out of this tournament forever had Red Bull not invested in its project there. So a drinks company want publicity? So what? If the effect is a bright, lively, innovative team, capable of challenging a stale European order, that’s good news, surely?
The absence of Timo Werner, who has joined Chelsea and elected not to play in what remained of Leipzig’s European campaign, shows how hard it is for a small team to break into the elite. To resent what limited opportunity there is, then, shows how sick the football industry has become.
The pity last night, then, was that this was a test too far for Leipzig. They thrived in the quarter-final against an Atletico Madrid side that is built to resist more than create, but PSG have higher ideals. In a straight-up game of attacking football, the Germans were second best.
Too often PSG got in behind Leipzig, the speed of Neymar and Mbappe in particular too much to handle, with Di Maria playing a superb supporting role; PSG have brought the best out of him in a way United sadly never could.
In the sixth minute, Neymar should have given PSG the lead, put through by Mbappe with only keeper Peter Gulacsi to beat. His finish eluded him, but not the far post – an early warning sign of the immense potential of this forward line. If Bayern do prevail tonight, their back four will be tested like never before in this competition.
A minute later the ball was in the net after Gulacsi made a dreadful hash playing the ball out of the back, but Neymar was correctly judged to have charged his panicked clearance down with an arm, before Mbappe tapped the rebound in. There was nothing he could about it, but the goal could not stand. The goal, when it came though, brooked no argument. Neymar won a foul on the left and stood over the ball with Di Maria. It was the Argentinian who whipped it in, however, an absolutely perfect delivery that saw Marquinhos break first from a line of seven Leipzig defenders to head the ball past a static Gulacsi.
All the invention, all the class was with the French. In the 35th minute, Neymar tried an audacious free-kick attempt, by spotting Gulacsi off his line and conceding too much space in one half of his goal, trying his luck with a low one from 30 yards out.
Eventually, the second came and it was the product of one of PSG’s lesser recognised qualities — hard work. No good team is lazy and for all their superstar status, PSG’s forwards press exceptionally well. Again, Leipzig were caught playing out from the back, a loose Gulacsi pass swiftly recycled and given the merest back-heeled flick by Neymar, into the path of Di Maria, who made the Hungarian goalkeeper pay for his error.
More pressure brought the third after 56 minutes. Juan Bernat took a heavy touch that was scrambled clear but Nordi Mukiele slipped with PSG players closing in, his prone form now playing Bernat onside in the middle as Di Maria crossed for his conversion.
French champions of Europe? You get what you pay for these days.
RB LEIPZIG (3-4-2-1): Gulacsi 5; Klostermann 6 (Orban 82min), Upamecano 5, Mukiele 6; Laimer 5 (Halstenberg 62, 6), Kampl 6 (Adams 64, 6), Sabitzer 6, Angelino 6; Olmo 6 (Schick 46, 6), Nkunku 5 (Forsberg 46, 6); Poulsen 5. Subs not used: Haidara, Lookman, Mvogo, Tschauner, Ramos, Borkowski, Wosz. Booked: Halstenberg, Laimer, Poulsen. Manager: Julian Nagelsmann 6. PSG (4-3-3): Rico 6; Kehrer 6, Silva 6, Kimpembe 5, Bernat 6; Herrera 6 (Verratti 83), Marquinhos 6, Paredes 6 (Draxler 83); DI MARIA 8 (Sarabia 87), Mbappe 7 (ChoupoMoting 86), Neymar 8. Subs not used: Icardi, Kurzawa, Diallo, Bakker, Gueye, Bulka, Dagba, Innocent. Scorers: Marquinhos 13, Di Maria 42, Bernat 56. Booked: Kimpembe. Manager: Thomas Tuchel 7. Referee: Bjorn Kuipers 6.