This Saturday, Neymar will certainly attend PSG-Dijon in his box in the Parc des Princes. Suspended for this meeting, the number 10 will thus close a month of February when it will have disputed only three meetings (PSG-Montpellier, Dortmund-PSG and PSG-Bordeaux). Far from his superb January performance and his high-flying performances which allowed him to be crowned best player in Ligue 1. As always since his arrival in Paris in the summer of 2017, the transition between the first two months of the calendar year will have been a changeover in its season.
This time, it was embodied in the left heel of Arnaud Souquet, the right side of Montpellier came to hit the lower back of Neymar at the end of the first period of PSG-Montpellier (5-0), the February 1st. That day, the playmaker and striker returned quite upset to the locker room. While some observers expect his replacement to avoid aggravating the blow received, Santos' crack will resume play and end the game.
In a post-match press conference, Thomas Tuchel will not discuss the injury of his playing master. It must be said that the questions revolve mainly around the discontent of Kylian Mbappé during his replacement and Neymar's birthday the next evening, 48 hours before the trip to Nantes. "Kylian's release today or Ney's birthday gives the impression that we are not serious. We can have the image that we are not professionals. “Irritated the German coach at a press conference.
Her physiotherapist disagrees with the doctors
These chosen words will have little effect. On Sunday evening, from 9 p.m., the ballet of cars is incessant in front of the Yoyo, the club located just under the Palais de Tokyo. The guests dressed in white - the evening's dress code - and some of them from Brazil, take shelter under umbrellas before entering the nightclub. A vigilante wipes the pavement with a squeegee to avoid slipping. Neymar arrives, around 9:50 p.m., white hat on his head with the logo of one of the sponsors of the evening. Nothing in his attitude, nor in his approach, lets imagine a lesion to the ribs capable of handicapping him.
The participants of the evening, which will stretch late at night, describe a rather alert Neymar. However the next day, the former Barcelonan is not in the group that will challenge Nantes to Beaujoire. The examinations published in the evening by the PSG revealed a “chondro-costal lesion”, that is to say located between the bone and the cartilage of the rib. In the early afternoon, Thomas Tuchel said nothing about the injury during his pre-match press conference. Even more disturbing, the Brazilian communication staff announced a few minutes later that he suffered a minor injury and will be back on the field against Lyon, the following Sunday.
The communicators of "Ney" are in direct contact with Bruno Mazziotti, a Brazilian physiotherapist close to Neymar and integrated into the medical staff of PSG. With his compatriots, physiotherapist Ricardo Rosa and physiotherapist Rafael Martini, he is part of the medical close guard of the most expensive player in the history of football (222 million euros). These three are very caring for the Parisian star.
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Landed in the summer of 2018 from the national selection of Brazil in which he officiated, Mazziotti does not share the same views as the doctors of PSG. For him, the injury to the ribs of his foal is benign and the latter will quickly be on his feet. For doctors in the capital's club, reading the medical report is quite different. They estimate that “the chondro-costal lesion” requires approximately 13 to 14 days of prevention before a full and complete resumption of the competition. Time to rule out any risk of aggravation in fracture.
A birthday anniversary at home
However Neymar does not seem more embarrassed than that by his pain in the ribs. On Wednesday February 5, the real date of his birthday, the player organizes a big party at his home in Yvelines. On his Instagram story, he publishes a photo where we see him sharing the cake with his family. Yet he lacks a wide shot to see that all his friends from Brazil stayed in Paris for the event. In the large living room of the house of Bougival, the music resounds loudly and the libations of certain guests are going well. White tunics are still required.
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Fui feliz, atura or surta 🤪😂❤️ 28
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During the evening, Neymar even allows himself to wiggle which does not fit well with his back injury and effective therapy. Besides, the next afternoon, the Brazilian is back on the training ground of the Camp des Loges. He does not force much, and the Parisian staff does not allow him any contact. But five days after the blow received against Montpellier, Ney touched up the ball when some specialists mentioned 8 days of rest and care before a full recovery. In his entourage some describe a complete remission. However, PSG does not want to take any risk and decides to spare it for the reception of Lyon. Thomas Tuchel has in sight a return to business in Dijon, the following Wednesday, in the quarterfinals of the Coupe de France.
"We are not spokespersons for PSG"
Also when the Brazilian is forfeited for the trip to Burgundy, the Parisian coach takes refuge behind a decision of the medical staff. "If I could decide alone, he would have played against Lyon and today. But it is a medical decision because the risk is too great, ”says the German, without convincing him of his full support for this diagnosis. The Parisian coach disturbs a little more the spirits when he affirms that he is not 100% sure to be able to count on his playmaker in Dortmund. In the Neymar clan, disbelief prevails. Because for those around him, the wound no longer exists. "Go to the club. We are not the spokespersons of the PSG, ”advises a close friend.
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It is this same misunderstanding that the player will report after the defeat at Dortmund (1-2). "I wanted to play, I felt good, but the club was afraid and it was me at the end who suffered," he will explain after the match. It must be said that with his round trip to Düsseldorf on Thursday the 13th, to promote a brand of jeans, Neymar also did not put the odds on his side. Leonardo the sporting director, in agreement with the medical staff, will finally decide not to take his Brazilian genius to Amiens to get back on his feet, three days before the Champions League. Too much precaution? Perhaps even if the past has drawn the portrait of a fragile player. Staying more than two weeks without competition, the attacker will not deliver a big game revealing a slight weight imbalance.
Because even if he announced a few days earlier, not without irony, that he would not go this year to the Rio carnival, February is the month of the holiday for the Ney. Two days after the trip to Dortmund, the Brazilian did it again, this time on the anniversaries of Di Maria, Cavani and Icardi. The following Sunday, his nervousness towards Bordeaux is palpable. Generally little warned, he gets two yellow cards and is sent off at the very end of the game. The League's disciplinary committee will be limited to the automatic suspension match. But for Neymar, it is time for March to come to an end.
