The summer has not been easy for Paris Saint-Germain. While the Parisian club has welcomed many new faces, it has also lost some notable players of recent years, including Brazilian striker Neymar. Recruited by PSG for 222 million from FC Barcelona in the summer of 2017, the native of Mogi das Cruzes left the city of Paris after 173 games played and 118 goals scored. A summer transfer window with great symbolism since Paris Saint-Germain also let Inter Miami slip away to Argentinian legend Lionel Messi, following the end of his contract. On vacation in Brazil, Neymar gave an exclusive interview to the Globe for the program Esporte Espetacular where he returns to several major themes of the past year, between his ankle injury, his failure at the World Cup in Qatar but also his departure from Paris Saint-Germain for Saudi Arabia.
“I have always been very authentic throughout my career, I have never been afraid of anything, I have always been very sincere. During my career, I’ve made mistakes many times, but I’ve always been someone who wanted to do the right things, the right way. Obviously we always walk on the ball, but I want to be remembered as an authentic player, who always made a difference wherever he went. For me, it is very gratifying”, Neymar said in this interview. But the most interesting part of the interview concerns Paris Saint-Germain and especially his relationship with Lionel Messi during their last season in Paris.
Neymar defends Messi!
Often the victim of whistles or criticism by some of the Parisian supporters but also of the French press, the relationship between Neymar and certain players from PSG or French football has not always been idyllic. The former Santos player did not live his last season very well, just like Lionel Messi: “I was very happy with the year he lived, but at the same time very sad, because he lived both sides of the coin, he went to heaven with the Argentina team, won everything in recent years, and with Paris he’s been through hell, we’ve been through hell, he and I. We get angry, because we’re not here for nothing, we’re here to do our best, to be champions, to try to write history, that’s why we started playing together again , we gathered there to be able to write history. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it.”said the 31-year-old Brazilian.
Now an Inter Miami player, the Pulga left the capital club through the back door. Whistled during the title night last May, the 36-year-old Argentinian did not get the farewell he deserved, according to his Brazilian friend: “Messi left PSG in a way that, for football, he didn’t deserve. For all he is, all he does, everyone who knows him knows, he’s a guy who trains, who fights, if he loses he gets angry, and he was unjustly accused in my opinion. But at the same time, I was very happy that he won the World Cup. As you said, the football was fair this time, since with the elimination of the Brazilian team, Messi deserved to end his career like this.. In any case, Messi like Neymar keeps a bitter taste of their common history at Paris Saint-Germain since the Pulga has also made somewhat stormy remarks about Paris since his arrival in Miami.
