Thomas Tuchel has said Neymar is “100%” committed to the French champions
Paris St Germain coach Thomas Tuchel has said Neymar is “100%” committed to the French champions after the Brazil international scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Olympique Lyonnais in the Ligue 1 on Sunday.
Despite being surrounded by four defenders in the 87th minute, Neymar received a pass from Angel Di Maria inside the box and created enough space to shoot past Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopez into the far corner of the net.
It comes a week after Neymar’s decisive goal for PSG against Strasbourg, and Tuchel praised the forward’s recent goalscoring form despite his relative lack of match fitness.
“He is 100% with us. He is 100% in the squad — he laughs and jokes and is reliable,” Tuchel told a news conference.
“He is totally there with his teammates. That is normal, as well as necessary. He is a very sensitive guy.”
“This is only his third match in four months. He will gain in physical capacity with the matches and this will help him. Ney is always decisive, he is always creative and he looks ahead.”
Neymar was booed by a section of home fans during PSG’s previous league match against Strasbourg, having been heavily linked with a return to Barcelona during the close season transfer window.
But he has received the full support of his team mates, with captain Thiago Silva praising the 27-year-old’s moment of magic that put league leaders PSG on 15 points from six games, seven clear of ninth-placed Lyon.
“Ultimately, it was Neymar’s action (which made the difference)…” Silva told Canal Plus. “On the pitch, I could not understand what he had done.
“Sometimes, we say it is easy and that the defender has let him turn, but that was not easy. In training, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe do incredible things and we profited from this phenomenon’s quality here.”
