Neymar, the Brazilian star’s boss spoke of his sheer admiration of his striker’s commitment even as controversy raged over his actions after the French cup final.
Neymar has now gotten the backing of Thomas Tuchel, PSG head coach after his violent reaction to Saturday’s Coupe de France final loss to Rennes continued to tell on the build-up to Tuesday’s Ligue 1 game against Montpellier.
Since suffering a foot injury in January, the Brazilian striker finished 120 minutes on his first start while assisting Dani Alves’ amazing opener against Rennes, and also scoring the second and netting in the penalty shoot-out after a 2-2 draw.
Christopher Nkunku missed a crucial penalty kick which automatically gave Rennes their first major honour ever since 1971 and Neymar’s reaction with a supporter when PSG went up the stadium steps to collect their runners-up medals got the full attention of media.
Neymar, however, has apologised for the incident in an Instagram post saying: “Did I act wrong? Yes, but no one can remain indifferent.”
He could face an eight-game suspension from the French Football Federation, but Tuchel was very in support of his man.
He said on Monday, “I know what Ney meant, it’s not something we have to talk about outside, only inside.
“There are players who like to win and players who hate to lose. Everyone loves to win but it takes more to hate to lose.
“Neymar played 120 minutes, I was surprised at his performance. He scored, made a decisive pass and scored the fifth penalty. Almost all our dangerous actions were by him.”
#SRFCPSG@TTuchelofficial: “It was a great disappointment. We have not shown the mentality necessary to win this game.” pic.twitter.com/ejdC3z7ZQ1
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) April 28, 2019
The club’s usual domestic cup mastery also deserted them in Tuchel’s first campaign at the helm.
“At PSG we have the goal of winning everything, including the Champions League,” said the former Borussia Dortmund boss.
“But you have to be careful, a team like Juventus have not won it for [23] years.
“We need to talk in the dressing room to grow and improve. But we have to do it between us. We can talk and have different opinions, but we have to do it inside [the dressing room].”