The Brazilian made his club return on Friday in a performance his manager conceded was below par
Neymar had a “bad performance” on his return for Paris Saint-Germain, according to coach Thomas Tuchel, who nonetheless defended the fit-again forward.
The Brazil star had been out of action for a month with an injury sustained on international duty but started for PSG at home to Lille in Ligue 1 on Friday.
Neymar had a hand in PSG’s second goal in a 2-0 win that moved the champions 11 points clear at the top of the table.
However, in his 65 minutes on the pitch, he failed to record a single shot or key pass and completed only 63.9 per cent of his passes on an underwhelming return to action.
Tuchel, though, was not expecting a top performance given his time on the sidelines.
“No, I’m not worried by his bad performance,” Tuchel told reporters of Neymar’s display. “I do not know if it’s normal.
“I did not expect much from him because he missed six weeks. It’s a lot for someone like him, who needs pace for everything he does.
“He missed precision today, timing. But it’s like that. He had to play a few minutes.”
Neymar was replaced by Kylian Mbappe and went straight down the tunnel rather than watch the rest of the game from the bench.
“It’s normal. Many players enter the locker room directly,” was Tuchel’s view. “I did not see that because I was focused on the game, changing tactics.
“We have to talk about this thing internally. But we are not going to talk about it too much now.”
Goals from Mauro Icardi and Angel Di Maria in the first half saw PSG to a routine victory at Parc des Princes.
“They are fit, and strong together,” Tuchel said of the Argentina duo. “Both stayed with us during the [international] break.
“That’s good because you can manage them and keep them fresh. Both are decisive and score goals. And they work for the team and it makes a huge difference for us.”
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