They extended and they lived happily? By force, the telenovela Neymar at PSG could end thus. Forgotten in the summer of 2019, spent trying to flee the capital's club. Eight months later, the Brazilian star shines in Paris and will again play a knockout round of the Champions League on Tuesday in Dortmund. Finally. The player re-enchants the game of his team at the same time that he becomes again this magician with these feet finally rid of the fractures of life and football.
You have to see him in training where it is important to have a contagious good humor, despite his rib injury that occurred on February 1 last against Montpellier. In the dressing room of the Camp des Loges, the "enemies" are gone or have no sporting weight, which makes their distrust of the star obsolete.
You have to see him dancing in white capri pants on February 5 in his huge home in Bougival (Yvelines), where he had invited his friends from here or from Brazil to celebrate his 28th birthday. The number 10 took the opportunity to surprise its guests by sporting a zero ball which will arouse the joy and teasing of the Areopagus. Three days earlier, he had confided to his playmates in a Parisian disco club where he was already celebrating his birthday: “For the first time, I feel fully happy in Paris. "
Mbappé, much more than a teammate for him
Work, family, party seems to be his Parisian motto, the one that links his brilliantly found football to a life that has finally calmed down. If he put a little flat on the public and very night outings - at the request of the club and through Leonardo, the sporting director -, he still likes to escape, often after the games at the Park, in this club on avenue Matignon, or eat a few meters further in this den of footballers, avenue de Wagram, still in the 8th arrondissement.
Blossoming, freed from the toxic chain of repeated injuries, Neymar once again integrates the galaxy of players who count, those who can rock an encounter on their own, like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Mohamed Salah. Like Kylian Mbappé also. His PSG partner also explains a lot about his sports redemption, his reconnection to the ball. With the world champion, he has built extremely strong ties for a year in particular. They are "bro" (understand "brothers", brothers in English), that is to say accomplices on and off the field.
They admire each other and know how to speak frankly when the situation requires it. They sort of sealed a pact this season: being together to pull PSG to the top. The team is all the more likely to pass the rounds in the Champions League if the two cracks evolve at their real level, an altitude that few of their fellow students can reach.
They now both dream of applying the recipe for success and seduction through beautiful play to PSG. The considerable weight taken by Mbappé in world football does not bother Neymar for a moment. The native of Mogi das Cruzes near São Paulo has many faults but he never shows himself to be jealous.
He keeps the sense of celebration
Despite a bulky entourage, the Brazilian seems to have realized that his demons cast a shadow on his career. In 2019, he completely disappeared from the thirty most influential players on the planet, ejected from the list of nominees for the Ballon d'Or France Football. Slowly, it rebuilt itself by buying a pipe even if it keeps a show off side which annoys until internally, ready to be displayed during the Christmas holidays in Brazil tottering on a beach after a little out watering or tackling a dwarf friend on an inflatable beach field.
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Accused of rape of a compatriot for nebulous facts that took place on May 15, 2019 in a large Parisian hotel, Neymar almost saw his career collapse at the same time as his reputation and his advertising contracts, those with which he organizes still celebrating her birthday in early February at the Yoyo. Brazilian justice has closed the case. This slip or this misadventure, it depends, would have precipitated his desires to start, return to the past and Barcelona.
The victory of Brazil in Copa America, which a new injury forced him to follow like an average supporter, surely did nothing to fix his wave to the soul that he dragged all summer, until Asia where his club was on tour. An autumn and a winter later, he explodes in Paris, this time driven by a thirst for sporting conquest. Neymar has become Neymar again.