Neymar’s father on injury: Why does no-one try and stop it?
Neymar's father has posted on social media to condemn the actions of Lyon player Thiago Mendes, who injured his son during PSG's 1-0 loss on Sunday night.
The Brazilian was stretchered off with a severe ankle injury and Neymar Sr took to social media to express his anger and disgust with the challenge.
Mendes was shown a straight red card after VAR inspection for the challenge, lunging with two feet and wrapping his legs around Neymar’s left ankle.
After the match, Neymar Sr laid out his frustrations on Instagram to and claimed it could have been avoided earlier in the match.
“Why not stop it at the beginning, on the first offence, why wait for the seventh, eighth or ninth?” he wrote.
According to InStat, Neymar has been fouled 56 times in 12 matches this season. The second-most fouled player for PSG is Rafinha, with just 26 fouls suffered.
Football will end up losing.Neymar Sr
Last season it was 108 fouls on Neymar in 27 matches and the season before that, 111 fouls in 28 games – Marco Verratti was second in both campaigns, with 68 and 83 fouls suffered respectively in 2019/20 and 2018/19.
Considering that his frequent injury problems in recent years have meant he has played far less games than his teammates throughout this time, these figures are eye-opening.
Neymar’s father questioned whether VAR is needed to be able to punish acts of foul play on the pitch, and suggested the leniency towards fouls on his son is “feeding these types of players and attitudes” to continue in this way.
The Brazilian is awaiting a full diagnosis but PSG are hoping the ankle ligaments are intact and it is just a severe strain that could see him back by the time the Champions League knockout stages begin.