Neymar: 'Messi and I lived through hell in Paris'

He was the staple signing for Paris Saint Germain. He was taken away from one of the biggest clubs in the world – Barcelona, and they couldn’t do anything about it. Even with all these mad prices for football players in 2023, his transfer fee of 222 million euros in 2017 is still untouchable. And yet, when he left to Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago, the general mood among the supporters (and some in the PSG building) was: With good riddance. Off course, it’s Neymar.  The Parisians wanted a big name when the Qatar state took over the club and he was in his prime when he signed. And when Kylian Mbappe proved to be a star, it was supposed to be a formidable partnership. And then Lionel Messi came and the only thing which was missing was the Champions League trophy. But it never happened, and out of those three players, only Mbappe was consistent.

Nemyar's close friend reveals reasons for Neymar's Arabia move

And now, after signing for Al Hillal and becoming the most expensive player in the Arabian football with 90,000,000 euros worth transfer, the Brazilian opened up about his experience in Paris. And it was a tragic one, both for him and for his friend Messi. Speaking for Brazilian ‘Globo’, former PSG forward talked about how happy he was when his friend won the World Cup, and then mentioned their time together in Paris.

“I was very happy for the year he had, but at the same time very sad, because he lived both sides of the coin, he went to heaven with the Argentina national team, he won everything in recent years, and with Paris he lived hell, we lived through hell, both he and I. We get upset, because we're not there for nothing, we're there to do our best, to be champions, to try to make history, that's why we went back to playing together, we got together there so that we could make history. Unfortunately, we didn't make it. Messi left from PSG in a way that, for football, he did not deserve that. For everything he is, everything he does, anyone who knows him knows, he's a guy who trains, who fights, if he loses he gets angry, and he was unfairly charged in my view” said Neymar.

Messi opens up about his struggle in Paris

It’s fair to say that his words didn’t ‘land’ well into the ears of PSG supporters, as well as some former players. Many fans will remember Neymar’s wages, huge signing bonuses, big parties in his house, injuries etc. when they think of him. And former Arsenal man Robert Pires

"I call it mourners. You're a professional player and you have to know how to handle pressure. When you're good, you're happy to receive praise and when you're not good, it's part of the game, We were all criticized, me first. When I arrived at Arsenal, we said 'who is he? He is there to replace Overmars, he sucks'. I continued to work and it paid off in the end" said Pires to Canal +.