PSG is risking its continuity in the Champions League this Wednesday in Munich, where they must come back to Bayern after the adverse result of the first leg (0-1), and the Parisians will face this difficult challenge without the injured Neymar, again out in a game of the round of 16 tie. Mbappé and Messi will have to assume the attacking responsibility in the fearsome Allianz Arena. The Brazilian was chosen in the summer of 2017 to guide the French club towards the first orejona in its history, but the bet, both economic and sporting, is being a failure.
The president of the French entity, Nasser Al Khelaifi, set himself the goal of hiring Neymar six years ago, always with the approval of Qatar. PSG did not have to negotiate with Barça, they simply paid the 222 million of his clause and made the striker the most expensive signing in the history of football, a record still in force. That large outlay, peccata minuta for the Qataris, was accompanied by one of the highest salaries in the king of sports, increased to almost 50 million gross per year with its renewal in 2021 until 2025. In addition, the new contract includes the possibility of extending the link until 2027, an option that according to various media the player has already exercised.
In this way, Neymar would end his contract with the Parisians at the age of 35. For the moment, he will undergo surgery due to a sprain affecting the ligament of his damaged right ankle, suffered in the match against Lille, and he will miss the remainder of the season, the sixth time for the French team, more than any other club in his career. His periods at Santos and at Barça were not that long. However, in all these years he has been in the infirmary more than a third of the time, mainly due to ankle injuries, although he has also had muscular problems and fractured the fifth metatarsal of one foot. More than 20 injuries since he arrived in Paris.
In addition, his physical setbacks usually arrive at the most decisive moment of the season, starting in February and especially coinciding with the Champions League round of 16. PSG has always played the first tie in the European competition in the last five years and of the 12 games Neymar has only played five in full. In his first year, he missed the return against Real Madrid in Paris, where the whites certified the pass (1-2). In 2019, he was not in the two games against Manchester United, again with the Parisian debacle, and he was absent again due to physical problems in the round of 16 in 2021 against Barça. Last year, against Madrid once again, he played the last 17 minutes of the first leg in France (1-0) and succumbed at the Bernabéu (3-1). Neymar did play the round of 16 tie against Borussia Dortmund in 2020, the season in which PSG reached its only Champions League final, precisely losing to its next rival, Bayern.
Despite his good numbers this season, in which he had 18 goals and 17 assists in 29 games, in recent months non-sports controversies have also accompanied Neymar, another drag on his sporting career, almost always dotted with his football due to his irregular life beyond the playing fields. The complaints from the neighbors, and even from the mayor, for his parties late at night and the discussion he had in the locker room with the sports advisor, Luis Campos, have recently placed him in the spotlight. Background noise and injuries have been a constant in a talented Neymar who, at 31, still fails to meet the high expectations that all the clubs in his career had placed on his boots.
Consult all the results of the Champions League.
