• Mbappe scores as French giants cruise past Urawa in Japan
Neymar said yesterday that he wants to stay with Paris Saint-Germain and does not “need to prove” himself to anyone after five years with the French club. The 30-year-old Brazilian said no one from PSG had spoken to him regarding his future but he wants to continue playing in the French capital alongside Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.
“I still want to stay here with the club,” Neymar said after PSG’s 3-0 win over J-League side Urawa Reds on the club’s tour of Japan. “So far the club hasn’t said anything to me so I don’t know what their plans are for me. I don’t need to prove myself to anyone – I just need to play my football and I have to be happy playing football,” he added.
Neymar said he was feeling “fit” after coming on as a substitute with Messi to play the last 30 minutes of yesterday’s game. He said it was “too early to speak about” his impression of new coach Christophe Galtier, who arrived at PSG from Nice at the end of last season.
Galtier said Neymar “has been working well” in pre-season and “seems happy and very fit”. “What will happen in the near future when the transfer window closes, I don’t know,” said Galtier. “We announce he’s leaving, we announce he’s staying – I haven’t spoken to Ney about this. But he doesn’t seem to be bothered about what is said about him and his situation at the club.”
Mbappe scored as PSG made it two wins out of two on their Japanese tour against Urawa in front of a crowd of 61,000 in Saitama. Mbappe was the only PSG player retained in the starting line-up after Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Kawasaki Frontale and he fired home a well-taken goal from a tight angle in the 35th minute. “Kylian Mbappe seems very happy to me, very fulfilled,” said Galtier. “He is very dynamic in his training sessions.”
Pablo Sarabia and Arnaud Kalimuendo got the other two goals for PSG, who play Gamba Osaka tomorrow in Osaka in the final game of their tour. Galtier handed a start to Warren Zaire-Emery – just 16 years and four months old – alongside Marco Verratti in midfield. “We had trouble getting into the game because the opposition was pressing us,” said Galtier. “As soon as we got into the game we saw some interesting things, even if we still have a lot to improve when it comes to conceding chances.”
Mbappe alone was still too much for Urawa to handle, firing home a well-taken goal from a tight angle in the 35th minute. Galtier brought on Messi and Neymar for the final half an hour, but neither were able to score.
PSG made a sluggish start, and Yusuke Matsuo almost gave Urawa the lead after stealing past the defence in the third minute. Goalkeeper Keylor Navas tipped over a shot from Atsuki Ito just minutes later but Sarabia set PSG moving in the right direction with a stylish opener in the 16th minute.
Mbappe played the ball into Mauro Icardi, who laid it off for Sarabia to lash home from just outside the box. Mbappe then made it two in the 35th minute, receiving the ball wide on the left and cutting inside before rifling the ball past the goalkeeper.
Messi and Neymar came on in the 58th minute and the pair combined to set up Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe to put the ball in the net, only for the linesman to flag for offside. Kalimuendo scored PSG’s third in the 76th minute.
