With the saga over his on-off move
back to Barcelona now over, Neymar could return to action with Paris
Saint-Germain this weekend.
The world’s most expensive player has
had to come to terms with a third season in Ligue 1 after PSG and his former
club failed to agree terms on a transfer before the transfer window shut on
September 2.
Neymar has since been away on
international duty for Brazil in two friendly matches in the USA, scoring one
goal and making another in a 2-2 draw with Colombia and then coming on as a
substitute in a 1-0 loss to Peru.
Those were his first appearances this
season after the 27-year-old was left out of PSG’s opening four league games
amid the uncertainty over his future.
If he is passed fit after a long trip
back across the Atlantic, coach Thomas Tuchel may choose to select Neymar in
Saturday’s game against Strasbourg, the team against whom he suffered a
fractured foot in a cup tie back in January.
PSG are already without Kylian
Mbappe, who has a hamstring injury, as they prepare to start their Champions
League campaign at home to Real Madrid next week. Edinson Cavani is also
struggling for fitness.
Argentine striker Mauro Icardi is
available after joining from Inter, but Tuchel may be tempted to turn to
Neymar, even though the Brazilian is suspended for the game against Real and
seems unlikely to receive a warm welcome from fans unhappy with his posturing
for a transfer.
“He knows that he has made
mistakes, but he has no bad intentions,” said his club and international
colleague Thiago Silva. “He is an incredible kid. I hope he has a great
season.”
Even Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has had
her say, urging Neymar to get his head down and help PSG finally succeed in
Europe.
“We turned the Eiffel Tower red
and white for him, in the colours of PSG,” she told magazine Tele Loisirs.
“Now my boy, we love you a lot,
and you are going to have to work hard and win us the Champions League.”
One to watch: The stands
French football has been consumed by
its battle to eradicate homophobia from stadiums, so all eyes will be on the
stands this weekend to see if more matches will be halted by referees.
Seven games have been interrupted so
far this season because of anti-gay chants and banners, including a hold-up of
more than 10 minutes during a match between Nice and Marseille.
The last week has seen French
Football Federation president Noel Le Graet enter into a war of words with the
country’s sports minister, former Olympic swimmer Roxana Maracineanu, after
saying in a radio interview that stopping matches in such circumstances was
“a mistake”.
On Wednesday the French league (LFP)
called on politicians to let them get on with leading the fight against
homophobia, while insisting that referees will be left to decide whether to
stop matches if they hear “discriminatory” words from the stands.
“For a long time we have
tolerated certain chants in stadiums, but today society no longer accepts
them,” said LFP president Nathalie Boy de la Tour.
Key stats
53 – The number of league goals
scored by Florian Thauvin for Marseille in the last three seasons. This week
the French World Cup-winning winger was ruled out until January as he requires
ankle surgery.
876 – In millions of dollars, the
amount made by French top-flight clubs during the summer transfer window, more
than any other league worldwide, according to analysis by FIFA.
7 – Lille are back in the Champions
League group stage for the first time in seven years. Before visiting Ajax next
midweek, they play Angers in the French league on Friday.
Fixtures (GMT)
Friday
Lille v Angers (1700), Amiens v Lyon
(1845)
Saturday
Paris Saint-Germain v Strasbourg
(1530), Bordeaux v Metz, Brest v Rennes, Dijon v Nimes, Montpellier v Nice (all
1800)
Sunday
Nantes v Reims (1300), Saint-Etienne
v Toulouse (1500), Monaco v Marseille (1900)
-AFP
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