The announcement of his name on Friday in Le Havre caused the hysteria of the 25,000 spectators of the Brazil-Ghana (3-0), and the Océane stadium gave him a standing ovation. The Seleçao are in the midst of a rock star tour of France: they draw crowds around hotels, hundreds of journalists to their matches, and Neymar is the undisputed star.
Everyone wants to see the PSG striker, greet him, talk to him, touch him or take a picture of him, and there will be even more noise than usual this Tuesday afternoon (8:30 p.m.) at the Parc des Princes, against Tunisia. The thirtysomething lives it with detachment and a certain tranquility. What’s more, he lends himself to the media game with much more availability than at the club.
In Le Havre he spent almost twenty-five minutes in the mixed zone, trapped in 50 cm2 between a cordon and advertising panels, applying himself to answering everyone, smiling, before ending the exercise after a question about Kylian Mbappé’s latest statements.
A Silva-Marquinhos hinge
In the Seleçao, the PSG number 10 does not have to worry about the state of mind of his club-mate and his technical relationship with Vinicius, for example, does not suffer from any battle of egos on the pitch. The Real Madrid striker sticks to what he does best, running fast and deep from the left flank, and that’s the smartest thing he can do with Neymar right behind him on the pass. The former FC Barcelona player has been marveling since the beginning of the season in a playmaker role, quite free in the left midfield, and even so he distributed two caviars to Richarlison against Ghana.
His statistics since the restart are impressive: 12 games, 11 goals, 10 assists, in all competitions. He is the most decisive player in Europe and that proves Tite right, who likes to remind us that “Neymar is the bow and arrow”. The auriverde coach will obviously establish his leader, this Tuesday night, but also Marquinhos, the captain of PSG, and Thiago Silva, ex-Parisian and armband-bearer in the Seleçao. The Parc des Princes seethes with impatience.