Neymar can complete his redemption with Champions League glory | OneFootball

Since the turn of the century, just 12 players have won Champions League medals with more than one club.

Only three of those players actually got on the pitch for all of their respective teams: Clarence Seedorf, Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo.

On Sunday evening, Neymar could join them. He could even join Ronaldo as the only player to score in Champions League final wins for two different teams.

The Brazilian has huffed and puffed for three years since completing his shock move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain. His star has fallen, suddenly and dramatically.

Having scored in both legs of the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and then the final itself in 2015 to inspire Barcelona to glory, Neymar was considered the heir to Messi’s throne. The global superstar to carry Barcelona, and indeed world football, into a new era.

In both 2015 and 2017 he was voted the third best footballer in the world, behind Messrs Messi and Ronaldo. But ask around in 2019, or in 2020, and most won’t even have Neymar in their top 10 players in the world.

In fact, he finished 11th when we at OneFootball tried to rank the best players in the world as football came to an abrupt halt just a few months ago.

Because in 2017, Neymar went his own way. Impatient and unwilling to wait for Messi to move aside, Neymar moved to PSG for a world record €222m fee. For that amount of money, he was expected to bring Champions League glory. And he hasn’t. Yet.

The theatrics can divide opinion, so can the social media presence and the parties. They can also cloud judgement of Neymar the footballer.

It’s funny that the all-time top Brazilian goalscorer in Champions League history can be so widely doubted. Neymar’s 35 goals in 59 appearances makes the impressive career tallies of Kaká (30 in 86), Rivaldo (27 in 73) and Ronaldinho (18 in 47) look poor in comparison.

To boot, his 26 Champions League assists is also far better than any of his countrymen. He’s played just more than a third of the games of Cristiano Ronaldo but is already well on his way to matching his record tally of 40 assists.

Neymar is into his third PSG season but the man brought in to provide Champions League success hasn’t even been on the pitch the two times they’ve exited the competition with him on the books. How can that be a stick to beat him with?

A 2-0 home win against Real Madrid would’ve been enough in 2018 but a metatarsal fracture kept him out and PSG lost 3-1. In 2019, he watched both legs from the sidelines as PSG won 2-0 at Old Trafford but were knocked out by Manchester United in Paris thanks to a last-minute penalty.

His professionalism has been questioned and the fact those games coincided with his sister’s birthday has been scrutinised, but these were lengthy injuries that kept him out for months at a time.

Ignore the circus that can surround him for a second and the talent is so incredibly obvious. Neymar remains one of the very finest footballers on the planet.

Since joining PSG, he’s scored 61 times and provided 35 assists in just 71 Ligue 1 and Champions League appearances.

People like to point to how ‘easy’ the French league is but Lyon finished 7th in 2019/20 and reached the semi-finals in Lisbon. How Manchester City could have done with Neymar in their quarter-final, or Juventus in the last 16.

Since moving to the French capital, the 28-year-old has scored in the Champions League against Bayern in 2017/18, Liverpool in 2018/19 and Dortmund twice in 2019/20.

But he still arrived in Lisbon a couple of weeks ago with everything to prove. Perhaps even with more than ever to prove.

Against Atalanta he played like a man possessed. He took on the burdens of Marco Verratti (injured) and Ángel di María (suspended) to put on a marvellous one-man show. Of course, it wasn’t enough until Kylian Mbappé came on.

One player can hardly ever win a Champions League knockout game single-handedly; just ask Lionel Messi. He’ll be watching a fifth consecutive final from home this weekend; he hasn’t played in one since Neymar was a team-mate.

So, Mbappé came on against Atalanta and Neymar had someone to play with. Someone  to evade and distract defenders. Neymar assisted the equaliser and slipped Mbappé through to lay on the winner.

He got another glorious assist in the semi-final against RB Leipzig on a night that saw him hit the woodwork twice.

And now he’ll have Bayern, and the trophy, in his sights.

In some ways, he’s led PSG to a Champions League final at the first time of asking.

It might be time for everyone to reconsider just how much he’s gone down in their estimations.