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Philippe Auclair highlights the "extraordinary" elements in Neymar's start to PSG life

So far, Neymar's early days at Paris Saint Germain have gone well. Two games, three goals and fou...



Philippe Auclair highlights th...
Soccer

Philippe Auclair highlights the "extraordinary" elements in Neymar's start to PSG life

So far, Neymar's early days at Paris Saint Germain have gone well. Two games, three goals and four assists!

The move from Barcelona to Ligue 1 was sparked by the Brazilian's desire to become the central cog around which the rest of the team is built around and already the signs are promising.

Certainly, his second goal against Toulouse was excellent coming under the rubric of solo effort.

We were joined by French football writer Philippe Auclair to ascertain how Neymar seems to be adapting to his new surroundings having previously shone as part of Barcelona's fabled MNS trio alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. 

"What really astonishes me is how easily he seems to be able to play with the enormous pressure that he's under," said Auclair.

"You're going to tell me, OK, playing against Toulouse or against Guingamp is not exactly too difficult but so much revolves around him now, not just in the Parisian team and amongst their fans, but all of French football that you could imagine a player being a little bit circumspect shall we say or trying to calm things down a little bit.

PSG's Neymar celebrates after scoring the 1-1 goal during the French Ligue 1 match, Paris Saint Germain v Toulouse at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, France, on August 20, 2017. PSG won 6-2. Photo by Henri Szwarc/ABACAPRESS.COM

"It seems that he's decided, no, 'let's make things as crazy as possible, let's play really, really well' and he's taken to Ligue 1 very, very easily as you could expect. He's also around players around whom he seems to have developed a very strong link in play very quickly. I'm thinking in particular of Adrien Rabiot who had an absolutely superb game and who seemed to link with Neymar. It was the preferential relationship, so to speak, within the team. But also he was very good with Cavani and Pastore and so forth and what is quite extraordinary is that this Parisian team which was led and inspired by Neymar and he scored most of his goals after they went down to 10 men because Marco Verratti was sent off for a completely stupid second yellow card and it didn't matter. I think people are genuinely over-awed by the presence of the world's most expensive player, the third best player on the planet."

Auclair added that Neymar seems to "thrive" under the spotlight and be "unfazed by the circus" around him as he steps out of Messi's shadow as a main man rather than being diminished by its intensity.

The media interest in France around Neymar has also led to hopes that his arrival can attract other major stars to Ligue 1. 

Auclair also discussed the Qatari influence and how the French media and club owners from other teams have reacted to the cash injection into the league.

Philippe Auclair highlights the "extraordinary" elements in Neymar's start to PSG life

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