On Wednesday, Neymar put on the greatest individual display in the history of Ligue 1. The Brazilian scored four goals, including a sublime free kick and ridiculous solo effort, while adding two assists in PSG’s 8-0 win over Dijon. Anyway, his fourth goal was roundly jeered by supporters inside the Parc des Princes and that’s all anybody’s really talking about now. It’s sensational, it’s surreal and it’s sadly understandable.
The sensational aspect of the story harkens back to the beginning of Team Neymar versus Team Cavani — when the two egomaniacs tussled over penalty responsibilities during the club’s 2-0 victory over Lyon back in September.
Since then, Neymar has been designated PSG’s penalty specialist and scored his fourth from the spot on Wednesday in the 83rd minute, the only problem being that Cavani had equalized Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s record of 156 goals for PSG with a goal of his own in the 21st minute.
If Neymar had allowed Cavani to take the meaningless penalty, the Uruguayan could’ve celebrated his record achievement in front of his own supporters on the day. But Neymar instead elected to take his own total to 15 goals from 15 Ligue 1 appearances. The crowd wasn’t having it.
PSG fans booing Neymar for not allowing Edinson Cavani to take a penalty that would make him the club’s all-time leading scorer. pic.twitter.com/UxyQhMOsbk
— Sam (@VintageKIopp) January 17, 2018
The fallout didn’t stop there with defender Thomas Meunier labelling the fans who booed him “disgraceful.”
“I understand the disappointment but I find this very disgraceful from the fans,” he said. “If you want to boo him, why do you clap and cheer him when he goes past four defenders to score?”
"Psst, Cavani...go away." Photo: @brfootball | Twitter
And that’s obviously the surreal aspect of it all. Neymar had just put in the greatest individual performance of all-time in Ligue 1, but he was booed like his name was Andre Gomes.
42' -
57' -
73' -
83' -Neymar put on a show as he scored four goals in PSG's 8-0 win over Dijon. pic.twitter.com/WaotwSzSRO— Goal (@goal) January 17, 2018
In the end, we’re back to Brazilian legend Ronaldo’s critique of Neymar’s transfer: “Sportingly, the decision is a step back.” A performance that should be globally celebrated and long-remembered is instead just fodder for another analysis of PSG’s internal discord.
It’s hard to get excited about a club with a total transfer market value of $810 million beating up on one valued at $44 million. In essence, Dijon’s whole team is roughly one Julian Draxler. That's just sporting madness.
Thankfully, we are now just 27 days away from PSG versus Real Madrid, but it’s still ridiculous that Neymar’s ultimate chance at vindication comes six months after his record-breaking transfer. Unless, of course, the back-to-back world champions win, then we’re in for another hot take shitstorm.
The18 Recommends For You
