PSG have been afraid to put me on the field, alleges Neymar
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Former Barcelona superstar Neymar has claimed that Paris Saint-Germain have been scared to play him over the last few weeks as he recovered from injury. The Brazilian is amongst the club’s best players this season despite missing large portions due to injuries and various other off the field issues.
The Ligue 1 giants, despite being overwhelming favourites, walked away as the second best side on the field last night after a loss to Borussia Dortmund, with many criticing their performance. While PSG did dominate the ball for spells of the game, they failed to truly make an impact, with them forcing Roman Burki into just three saves. However, a lot of their play was negative with Thomas Tuchel’s side looking overwhelmed at beating Dortmund’s defense.
But a wonderful brace from Erling Haaland on either side of a Neymar goal saw the hosts walk away with the lead, but PSG do have an away goal to bank upon in the second leg. However, that didn’t stop Neymar from criticising the club for not giving him time to recover. The Brazilian went on to admit that coming back from an injury and being pushed straight into such a big game is a massive leap for anyone.
He also criticized the club for being overly cautious despite him asking them to let him play a few minutes over the last few weeks and the Brazilian declared that he's been ready for a while but the club refused to let him play. It saw Neymar claim that it’s why he struggled to put his best foot forward against the Bundesliga giants despite him finding the net.
“It’s hard not to play for four games. Unfortunately, it was not my choice, it came from the club, the doctors; they’re the ones who made the decision, one that I did not like. We’ve had a lot of discussions on that. I wanted to play, I was feeling well but the club were afraid, and in the end I’m the one suffering,” Neymar said reported the Guardian.
“I understand the fear that the club was suffering from, because in the last two years I was not able to play in the round of 16. I respect the decision, but it cannot be like this, because the player ends up suffering. It was very difficult to play a match like this, intense, 90 minutes without stopping. It is different. Had I been in better shape, I would certainly have played better.”
