French football referees have failed to protect Neymar Jr. since arriving at Paris Saint-Germain in 2017. The 28-year-old has dealt with cheap shots and dirty tackles from the opposition in Ligue 1, resulting in various injuries.
Neymar is often the offensive creator for Les Parisiens. As a result, the Brazil international often has the ball at his feet, either trying to dribble past defenders or generating offense for his teammates.
Because of this, RMC Sport football analyst Daniel Riolo believes that it’s Neymar’s fault as he’s looking for these injuries with his playing style due to the number of times the ball is at his feet during an episode of After Foot RMC.
“He is looking for the injury. He doesn’t have to do that! The whole match, he got confused with Dubois. Frankly, that’s a bad guy attitude. He’s stupid. Why is he doing that, Neymar? Let’s say he is unavailable for two months, that he misses the round of 16. He qualified you by being good in the last two Champions League matches. You have the Neymar that you paid to be the captain of your team. But if afterward, you don’t have it, and you don’t get it back for the Champions League, the balance is almost negative,” Riolo said.
“Well, that’s not the life of a club. You put everything in the hands of a guy whose feat you expect. You are not building a collective game around. This PSG is quite incomprehensible, just like the compositions of Tuchel, the attitude of Neymar, the form of Verratti. They are burned physically and in the head.”
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