No, Neymar really didn’t “die” on the field on Tuesday evening.
His club Paris Saint-Germain lost 2-0 in the semi-final second leg to Manchester City and thus clearly missed the second final in a row after their 2-1 defeat in the first leg. The French disappointed across the board in the second leg. (Service: Results and schedule of the Champions League)
Right in the middle: superstar Neymar. The Brazilian had made a big splash ahead of the game at the Etihad Stadium. “I think every Parisian should believe in us! I’m in the front row and will be the first fighter to go into battle for the team,” said the 29-year-old and became even more martial: “I’ll be the best Give of me and do everything for it, no matter what, even if I have to die on the field. “
PSG professionals fail their nerves
Big words, nothing behind them! Nothing to be seen of the rising of the French star ensemble. In the first half PSG showed some good approaches, at the latest the 0-2 by Riyad Mahrez after an hour pulled the plug on Mauricio Pochettino’s team.
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Not, only in terms of sport, Paris failed completely that evening, once again the second in the Ligue 1 table proved to be an extremely bad loser. Angel Dí Maria was thrown off the pitch after being violently red, in the final phase the PSG stars only attracted attention through various unsportsmanlike conduct. In the first leg, Idrissa Gueye also took a bad kick against Ilkay Gündogan, who was also punished with red.
And Neymar? He kept himself out of the nicknames as far as possible, but he also made no move to try to defend himself against the offense in a sporty way. Sky-Expert Dietmar Hamann went hard with the Brazilian ball artist. Already in the first leg, Neymar brought sharpness into the game through individual actions. In the second leg, Hamann complained about “half kicking against Gündogan shortly before the end”.
Hamann criticizes Neymar: “Has nothing to do with team play”
These are all things that he cannot allow himself to be if he wants to be the best player in the world. “If you are the head of the team, you have a role model function. It’s just not enough for me,” complained Hamann. The French press also went hard with the PSG star. “Neymar did not die on the field. The Brazilian did not give his best, and if you want to be stricter, some individual performances were simply insufficient,” wrote The Parisian.
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After the weak performance of the Brazilian, his critics should see themselves confirmed again. The accusation that has always been in the room against Neymar: gifted yes, but through his theatricality, his inclination to show and his indiscipline, he blocked the chance to be mentioned in the same breath as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
“In the second half he tried to distribute leg shots with the sole. That has nothing to do with team play. I wonder if anyone would have told him before. How good he could be if he would leave out all this nonsense,” criticized Hamann.
The former international tried to compare it to the star of FC Barcelona. “You will never see Messi trying to play three or four players at the center line.” Neymar, on the other hand, is so often involved with things that he does on show and tries to look good or to make the opponent look ridiculous. “Messi never does that.”
Already two evictions in the current season
In addition, like his entire team, Neymar blows the fuses more and more often when things don’t work. In the current season he has already been blown off the pitch twice. Of course, that rubs off on the rest of the team.
A former Brazilian known from the Bundesliga also joined the debate about his compatriot. “I think he’s just not consistent enough this season,” said Zé Roberto in the Sports picture. What does the former player from FC Bayern and Bayer Leverkusen mean by that? Performances such as the strong performance in the games against FC Bayern Munich (where he also missed a number of great opportunities), Neymar brings too seldom. Like the rest of the team, Neymar only convinced against PSG in one of the four halves, including the first and second leg.
Zé Roberto, however, trusts the PSG star to be able to go one step further. “His performances are okay right now. And from there he can improve his level. And if that happens, I’m sure that he will also achieve a higher level of self-confidence and technique in a final,” he explained in the interview however, was performed before the semi-final second leg.
Hamann became clearer: “He claims to be the best player in the world. People say he is the third best player. For me he is no way near (not remotely) the third best player, there are ten others.”
In addition to football skills, a real world star is also characterized by being a sporting leader in the decisive games and tearing himself apart on the pitch. Especially when he announces it so martially beforehand.
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