With the UEFA Champions League home group stage fixture against Benfica coming on Tuesday, Paris Saint-Germain manager Christophe Galtier decided to make several lineup changes for the Ligue 1 away match against Reims.
Among them, Neymar was benched to open up the contest, as Galtier elected to start both Carlos Soler and Pablo Sarabia behind forward Kylian Mbappe in his 3-4-2-1 formation. However, the first-year PSG manager did sub in Neymar in the second half, as the Brazilian forward played in 33 minutes of the contest and logged one shot on target.
For Galtier (via L’Equipe), the reason behind his call to start the match with Neymar on the bench was due to the Brazilian’s hefty workload as of late.
“Neymar didn’t start the game because he’s been playing so much lately,” Galtier said in his post-game press conference.
Since the start of September, Neymar has played in a combined 10 matches for both PSG and the Brazil national team.
In the big picture, Neymar should be a bit more rested for PSG’s upcoming home matchup against Benfica.
