Neymar suffers injury

The club's medical services have indicated that the Brazilian star suffered an intercostal injury in a collision in the final stretch of the first half of the match he played last Saturday against Montpellier.

The player showed no signs of pain during the second 45 minutes until the end of the match, in which he was not substituted.

The next day, Neymar celebrated his 28th birthday in a nightclub in the center of Paris, three days ahead of time, a party that, according to some media, lasted well into the early morning and in which all members of the team participated.

On Monday, coach Thomas Tuchel did not refer to the Brazilian's physical problems during the press conference prior to today's match and even said he had many options to play despite the previous night's party.

In the evening, the club released a statement announcing his absence, stating that the pain had manifested late.

According to "L'Équipe", this injury "may create doubts after the celebration" and serve as an excuse for not fielding a player whose fitness would have been questioned after the party.

"Le Parisien" goes further and assures that if Neymar had been injured in Nantes after his birthday party, "an enormous controversy about the club's lack of authority with its players" would have arisen.

"There is no harm that does not bring some good", adds the newspaper, which, however, accuses the Brazilian of "lack of professionalism" for holding his birthday party despite being injured. "It is not the best way to recover," he claims.

Tuchel himself showed his discontent yesterday, Monday, with his players participating in that event two days before a match, although he insisted on downplaying it.

"Is it the best way to prepare for a match? Clearly, no. Is it the worst thing that can happen to us? Neither," he said.

The German coach made these statements at a press conference in which he had to respond mainly to questions about the "face to face" he had with Kylian Mbappé when he decided to substitute him in the 69th minute of last Saturday's match.

Tuchel complained that journalists asked too much about "off-field" issues. But Neymar's strange injury does not help to focus the PSG's current affairs on the pitch.