Ligue 1: Player of the Week: Neymar

One of the best players to ever grace Ligue 1 is the player of the week and that is PSG striker Neymar.

The Brazilian star has been brilliant this season even though he has missed two chunks of it. When he plays he usually scores, and this past weekend he came up trumps against a very good Lille side.

The last time PSG played Lille at Stade Pierre-Mauroy they were so close to sealing the league title and just needed a win, at the time Lille were in 2nd place but couldn’t catch them but the club still had a parting gift and that was to inflict a heavy and rare defeat on them, Lille ran out 5-1 winners.

This season no one was publically talking about revenge but it was clear PSG were after it. They beat Lille 2-0 and there was only one team in it. It was a victory that took the champions 10 points clear at the top and both of the goals came from Neymar. The added satisfaction from PSG’s point of view is that it was Lille’s first defeat at home this season.

Neymar has had his ups and downs this season but at the end of the day he has now scored 13 goals and is just 1 behind Monaco’s Wissam Ben Yedder. He has also assisted in a further 5 goals, so he has contributed 18 goals from his 13 games that he has played and that is a brilliant return.

He ranks in 5th place of Ligue 1 players in the fantasy rankings with a combined score of 55 points and his 2 goals at the weekend earned him the most points which was 8. His value is 14.5m and for good reason. He just produces the goods time and again.

The game against Lille marked Neymar’s 50th league game in France where he has now scored an incredible 47 goals. Neymar’s first goal of the game came just before the half hour mark as he played a neat one-two with Marco Verratti before unleashing a brilliant shot from 18 yards. The game was wrapped up early in the second half when the visitors were awarded a penalty and Neymar took it, the ball crept in with the power of the shot and that was his 2nd goal of the game. In a very touching moment Neymar paid tribute to Basketball legend Kobe Bryant who he had previously met, Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash earlier that day.

After a summer of discontent when Neymar tried to force a move away from the club, some fans suggested that it would take an almighty effort from Neymar this season for them to forgive him. Well he is doing just that, and he is making it look all too easy. Then again that’s what you get when you spend over 200 million euros on a player.

 

 

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