Paris Saint-Germain were plunged into fresh turmoil after their 2-1 Champions League defeat at Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday with Neymar criticising the club for not giving him time to get his sharpness back after injury before the last-16 tie.
The French champions, who have been knocked out at this stage for the past three seasons, looked unusually ponderous, with Neymar a pale shadow of his brilliant self despite scoring PSG’s goal.
The Brazil forward was playing his first game in more than two weeks after being rested because of a minor rib injury and he thought the club had been overly cautious.
“It’s hard not to play for four games,” Neymar said. “Unfortunately it was not my choice, it came from the club, the doctors; they’re the ones who made the decision, one that I did not like. We’ve had a lot of discussions on that. I wanted to play, I was feeling well but the club were afraid, and in the end I’m the one suffering.”
Neymar was injured when PSG went out of the Champions League in the past two seasons, against Real Madrid and Manchester United.
He said: “I understand the fear that the club was suffering from, because in the last two years I was not able to play in the round of 16. I respect the decision, but it cannot be like this, because the player ends up suffering.
“It was very difficult to play a match like this, intense, 90 minutes without stopping. It is different. Had I been in better shape, I would certainly have played better.”
PSG’s coach, Thomas Tuchel, who is likely to come under fire for not bringing on the strikers Edison Cavani or Mauro Icardi in the final stages despite trailing, said Neymar “lacked rhythm and competitive action”.
Last week, PSG sports director Leonardo fumed at the “negativity” surrounding the club before the tie. With Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, “two of the four best players in the world”, in their ranks, PSG should not fear anyone, he argued.
The pair combined for PSG’s goal on Tuesday but were off the pace for most of the game and outshone by the Norwegian teenager Erling Braut Haaland, who scored twice.
The result also brought back memories of previous embarrassing exits for PSG. Last season they were eliminated by Manchester United when they lost 3-1 after winning 2-0 at Old Trafford, and in 2017 a humiliating 6-1 defeat at the Camp Nou followed a resounding 4-0 home win against Barcelona.
Tuchel, who said they “played with too much fear”, has drawn criticism for his unexpected 3-4-3 system, though the centre-back Presnel Kimpembe said: “The defeat has nothing to do with tactics. We are the ones on the pitch.”
