Mauricio Pochettino hopes Neymar can show his talents against Bayern Munich on Wednesday after the Brazilian was sent off on his return to the Paris Saint-Germain starting XI.
Having appeared for 20 minutes as a substitute at Lyon ahead of the international break, Neymar started for the first time since February's Coupe de France trip to Caen when PSG hosted Lille on Saturday.
But the top-of-the-table Ligue 1 clash turned sour for the superstar as he was controversially dismissed in the closing stages of a 1-0 defeat.
Neymar, who tried to retrieve the ball from Lille defender Tiago Djalo before both players were sent off, has earned four red cards since his Ligue 1 debut in August 2017, a tally only topped in this time by Nantes midfielder Andrei Girotto.
The forward's latest misdemeanour is set to keep him out of league action as PSG aim to overturn the three-point advantage Lille secured at the weekend.
But Neymar can for now channel his energy into avenging last season's Champions League final defeat to Bayern when PSG face the reigning European and world champions in a two-legged quarter-final.
The world's most expensive footballer has played only six knockout games in the competition since moving to PSG, although he was ever-present in the five during last season's run.
Now, he is fit again and ready to take on Bayern on Wednesday with coach Pochettino's backing.
"After six weeks, he was very excited to start a game," Pochettino told a news conference on Tuesday, explaining Neymar's red card.
"He's an emotional player, he likes to play, he likes to fight, he's a competitive player. He didn't deserve this red - he was sent off for various reasons - but he knows he has to channel himself.
"I hope that tomorrow everything will be fine, that we can play a very good game, and that the whole team will get the performance we hope for."
Compatriot and captain Marquinhos also came to Neymar's defence.
"I've known Ney for years," he said. "We know he's a very competitive player. If you look at the action, he got a foul, he came to get the ball, he showed a lot of commitment.
"He's a great player, he's very motivated; what happened happened. Tomorrow we need great players to make a great game.
"We're not going over history again. Tomorrow is the Champions League, we learn from our mistakes and we think about what we have to do tomorrow."
Yet PSG, who beat Barcelona in the previous round, are determined not to rely on Neymar (13 goals this season) and Kylian Mbappe (30) alone against Bayern.
"I always preferred to talk about the collective, especially before these kind of games," Marquinhos said.
"When we see our performance in Barcelona, the collective was really strong; we saw it before the individualities.
"If everyone plays their part on the field with the right mindset, the individuals will then get away with it.
"I prefer to put the team forward, we can't always talk about specific cases."
Pochettino added: "We focus a lot on Mbappe and Neymar, but the 11 players who will start tomorrow will have the responsibility to do everything to help us get the win."
The PSG coach will at least be able to call on his superstar duo while Robert Lewandowski (knee) and Serge Gnabry (coronavirus) are out for Bayern.
Lewandowski and Gnabry shared six goals on the only previous occasion Pochettino took on Bayern, then as Tottenham manager on the end of a 7-2 humbling.
"Bayern's strength is its collective, its squad," Pochettino said. "When you win the Champions League and the Club World Cup, you have a very good group, not just 11 successful players.
"We are talking about Lewandowski and Gnabry, who are very good players, but we also have absentees like [Mauro] Icardi and [Marco] Verratti.
"That being said, for sure, for them, these are absences that weigh heavily."
Liverpool receive VAR audio of controversial disallowed Luis Diaz goal at Spurs
Liverpool have received the audio of the VAR review which led to a Luis Diaz goal wrongly being disallowed at Tottenham.
Miscommunication between VAR Darren England and on-field referee Simon Hooper led to the goal being ruled out in Saturday’s Premier League fixture.
Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) acknowledged later that evening that a “significant human error” had occurred, and PA understands the audio linked to the incident has now been sent to Liverpool by PGMOL ahead of it being released publicly.
PA understands the audio could feature in the next ‘Match Officials: Mic’d Up’ programme due to air on Monday night, if not sooner. But it is now understood the audio will definitely be released, it is just a question of when.
Liverpool are also understood to be appealing against a straight red card shown to Curtis Jones earlier in the match.
Diogo Jota was also sent off in the second half for a second bookable offence.
England and his assistant VAR, Daniel Cook, have not been selected for Premier League matches this weekend following the Diaz incident.
He’s got everything – Levi Colwill says Mykhailo Mudryk can be ‘one of the best’
Levi Colwill believes Chelsea team-mate Mykhailo Mudryk can be “one of the best in the world” and hopes the winger can now kick on after scoring his first goal for the Blues.
Mudryk has struggled to tie down a starting spot at Stamford Bridge since his big-money move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January and, prior to Monday’s trip to local rivals Fulham, had not managed a single goal for his new club.
However, he finally broke his goalscoring duck with the opener in a 2-0 win at Craven Cottage and Colwill, who set up the goal with a fine pass, hopes it will do the 22-year-old Ukraine international the power of good.
“It was amazing, I’m so happy for him (Mudryk), luckily I found him,” Colwill said.
“Of course he deserves the goal. He’s a great player, he could be one of the best in the world and he needs to kick on from here and hopefully he can push on.”
Mudryk, who has now started the last three Premier League matches for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, was replaced at half-time against Fulham due to a niggle but defender Colwill felt the £88million man showed exactly what he is capable of before being forced out.
He added: “It’s been tough for him since he joined but during the first half he was amazing and I think everyone can see the qualities he has. We see it all the time in training, he’s such a good player.
“To come here and bring it for the first half was amazing and he has to build from it.
“He’s got everything. Everything you want as a winger.
“It’s tough coming from Ukraine to Chelsea and it’s a pressure he might not have experienced with the different culture too. So it’s always going to be tough but soon we’ll see the player he is.”
Mudryk’s 18th-minute opener against Fulham was quickly followed by an Armando Broja goal as Chelsea claimed only their second Premier League win of the season.
Broja started ahead of the suspended Nicolas Jackson up front and netted his first goal since returning from the cruciate ligament injury he suffered last year.
“I’m so happy for him, it was a long time he was out injured. He came back and has been working so hard to come into the side and score which is the best way to come back,” said Colwill, who believes having increased competition for places will help push both Broja and Jackson.
“One hundred per cent. They’re both great strikers so to have that battle day in day out for starting positions is going to be good for both of them, they’re both going to learn and when they come on the pitch they have got to take their chances.
“Armando has got everything, he’s a problem. I’d hate to play against him. He’s big and strong and takes his chances.”
Fulham boss Marco Silva felt his side were not aggressive enough which allowed Chelsea to strike twice in two minutes and claim west London derby bragging rights.
He said: “It’s a disappointing result for us in certain moments and in terms of performance. The first half was not aggressive enough on and off the ball. We were flat in some moments and were not dynamic.
“They got behind Harrison Reed, Joao Palhinha, our midfield and caused some problems for us.
“When the game was balanced they scored the first goal and we were too passive the way we reacted to Colwill’s cross and after that we were punished by another mistake by ourselves (Tim Ream).”
Officials involved in Spurs-Liverpool VAR ‘error’ not selected for this weekend
The two match officials stood down from duty following Saturday’s incident that saw Liverpool wrongly denied a goal will not be involved in this weekend’s Premier League fixtures.
Darren England and Dan Cook were VAR and assistant VAR respectively when a “significant human error” resulted in Luis Diaz’s effort incorrectly being disallowed for offside in the Reds’ 2-1 loss at Tottenham.
Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) on Sunday announced the pair had been replaced for their next matches – England was due to be fourth official that day at Nottingham Forest v Brentford, with Cook to be assistant referee for Monday’s Fulham-Chelsea clash, but Craig Pawson and Eddie Smart stepped in.
And on Tuesday, England and Cook did not feature as the Premier League released its list of officials for matchweek eight this Saturday and Sunday.
Simon Hooper, the on-field referee for the Tottenham-Liverpool contest and fourth official for the subsequent Fulham game, is to be VAR when Everton host Bournemouth on Saturday.
After Diaz’s 34th-minute effort at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, when the score was 0-0, was disallowed PGMOL put out a statement saying “a significant human error occurred” and that a goal should have been given but “the VAR failed to intervene”.
The PA news agency understands Liverpool have formally requested the audio from PGMOL of the conversation between Hooper and England related to the incident.
Liverpool issued a statement on Sunday night saying they would “explore the range of options available given the clear need for escalation and resolution”.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
