Small man, big promise: Brazil’s great hope Neymar (r.) once mocked Erling Haaland in the duel between Paris and Dortmund. The Norwegian is more successful.
Photo: imago/Panoramic
A few weeks ago, Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior celebrated his 32nd birthday. That’s quite astonishing, as it felt like only yesterday that he was being treated as the new Pelé, as the great hope of the eternal football paradise of Brazil: May someone finally come and bring great happiness back to the beaches between Fortaleza and Porto Alegre.
Until today, Neymar’s promise is waiting to be fulfilled: at two World Cups it wasn’t enough for higher honors, and the player hasn’t left much of a mark on the European football circuit either. When FC Barcelona won the Champions League in the final in Berlin in 2015, Neymar only served as a helper for Maestro Lionel Messi. Two years later he went to Paris for emancipation. There in 2020 he was closer than ever before or since to winning the most important club competition as a leader. There was a remarkable duel in the round of 16 with Borussia Dortmund – the club that PSG will face in the semi-finals this Wednesday.
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Photo: Private
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Neymar played a crucial role in two ways. In the first leg he was overshadowed by a 19-year-old Norwegian. Erling Haaland scored both goals in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-1 win and celebrated them in an unconventional way – like Buddha in the lotus position: crossed legs, outstretched arms, thumbs and index fingers formed into small circles. After that evening, half the world was talking about Haaland and almost no one was talking about Neymar, even though he had also scored a goal and kept PSG alive.
The second leg in Paris was one of the first ghost games as a result of the emerging corona pandemic. There was no sign of Haaland in the Prinzenpark, but there was a lot of Neymar. As usual, he celebrated his goal to make it 1-0 early and posed in front of the camera with an implied lotus gesture. Later, after an easy 2-0 win, he gathered the Paris team together so that 13 Parisian Buddhas on the pitch sent malicious greetings to Haaland and Dortmund. They also posted a corresponding video from the dressing room, demonstrating in an amusing way how small tall football players can make themselves look.
In the final tournament in Lisbon, PSG reached the final with victories over Atalanta Bergamo and RasenBallsport Leipzig. That was lost 0-1 against FC Bayern. Neymar didn’t make it to a Champions League final again and moved on to Saudi Arabia last summer. He is currently recovering from a serious knee injury at his new club al-Hilal. Haaland is now 23, has been a striker for Manchester City since 2022 and won the Champions League as top scorer last year. He had already dealt with the Parisians’ Lotus attack in spring 2020 in the style of a champion, with the nice remark: “You helped me a lot to bring meditation into the world. I’m very grateful to them for that!”
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