A little dance and a kiss. As soon as his penalty was successful to allow Paris to lead 1-0 at the break this Sunday against Rennes, Neymar was smiling again while, in the stand, Kylian Mbappé, suspended for the match but present in Brittany, warmly applauded him. This is the first time this week that the Brazilian's face has lit up elsewhere when in the video clips where he expressed his joy at extending his contract with PSG for three years, until June 30, 2025. Between his sad performance in Manchester City Tuesday night, where as summarized Laurent Fournier, the former Parisian coach, he “lacked simplicity”, and his first period in Brittany, the Brazilian had more reason to be annoyed.
Ready to "die" on the lawn of the Etihad Stadium, Neymar, who had therefore survived, was expected on that of Roazhon Park to help his partners maintain contact with the Lille leader.
If he once again touched a lot of balls in the first period, and suffered a big sole from Bourigeaud (20th), he unfortunately experienced considerable waste: in his passes, in his dribbling, until he stumbled on Gomis (41st), or in his strikes like the one sent far above (43rd) after which we will see him wince at length.
He did not sound the revolt
Mr. Buquet's decision to award a penalty to PSG, after resorting to VAR, would therefore give Neymar the opportunity to score his eighth goal of his season in Ligue 1. For his 113th game since his arrival from Barça in 2017, this is his 86th goal in all competitions, which allows him to overtake Safet Susic's total and return to a goal from Di Maria (87 goals but in 260 games). Released and less obliged to carry the ball, the number 10 could take advantage of the second period, to play more directly in the image of these two perfect depth passes for Moise Kean (51st) and especially Julian Draxler (56th).
But the Rennes equalizer of Guirassy (70th) changed everything.
Was Neymar going to sound the revolt as Mbappé had known how to do at the end of the match against Saint-Etienne (3-2) in mid-April?
Well found by Rafinha, he placed a header captured in height by Gomis (75th).
But despite the latest encouragement from Kylian Mbappé, he could not do anything to help Paris who saw the title fly away.
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“In 4 years, I have changed a lot, I have learned a lot. Things also happened that shouldn't have happened, Neymar said on the club's website on Saturday. We had fights, a few sad moments, but the evolution within the club has been great. “Yet it is a week where Paris risks losing everything, with a trip to Montpellier on Wednesday in the semi-final of the Coupe de France, which opens for PSG and Neymar.