Neymar Jr – A timeline of his controversies with PSG

Much like Days of Our Lives or Neighbours, the Paris-Saint-Germain 2022-2023 season has provided football fans with almost daily drama. It's team that promises so much but almost always succumbs to its own internal issues as evidenced by the shock elimination in the Champions League, the controversy over Christophe Galtier and Lionel Messi's trip to Saudi Arabia. And let's not forget they also have Neymar Jr on their books...

Neymar has been irking even his own fans for some time now. On May 3, Parisian supporters lined up outside Neymar Jr's home, chanting insulting songs against him and asking him to leave the club. The reason why PSG fans have so much contempt for Neymar was evident the next day when the Brazillian liked a tweet criticizing teammate Kylian Mbappé on social media. 

And this was not the first time that the striker has attacked a PSG player on Twitter or Instagram. Between his controversial lifestyle, his repeated injuries and his reputation as a big party animal, Neymar is a constant figure in the French press for good reason. Here are his biggest controversies at PSG.

In 2017, for his first year with PSG, Neymar wanted to show that he was the boss and, without this permission, wanted to take penalties. During a Ligue 1 match, he decided to take the ball from Edinson Cavani.

The Uruguayan did not let it go and the two players had it out in front of all the cameras. Prior to that, both players had also shown signs of annoyance when taking free-kicks.

Edinson Cavani was then on the way to becoming the top scorer in the history of PSG but had to bow and leave the penalty to Neymar Jr. A decision which did not delight the supporters and which put a bad atmosphere within from the PSG locker room.

In April 2019, Paris-Saint-Germain faced Stade Rennais in the final of the Coupe de France. After a tight match rich in goals (2-2), Rennes finally won on penalties against the frustrated Parisians. 

Neymar Jr, in particular, had a frustrating game, missing several chances. As the PSG players climb the stairs to collect their medals, a supporter insults several players: Layvin Kurzawa, Gianluigi Buffon, Marco Verratti and… Neymar.

But the Brazilian is not having a great day and slaps him, before continuing on his way. The gesture will go around social networks and will contribute to Neymar's reputation as a "bad sport".

The summer of 2022 is going well for PSG players. The first games of the season are good and Neymar Jr explodes in stats. However, during a match against Montpellier, Kylian Mbappé took a penalty in the 24th minute and missed it, stopped by Jonas Omlin.

Neymar made the decision to take the second penalty, 19 minutes later, and succeeded. On the surface, everything seemed cool until Neymar went on social media later that night – supporting two tweets from Brazilian fans.

Both messages implicate Kylian Mbappé. The first stating: " Today, in the PSG game, Neymar scored and HUMILIATED the goalkeeper (again) from the penalty spot. Mbappé, on the other hand, hit VERY badly and missed. After the game, the coach declared Mbappé to be the team's main hitter for the season. Nonsense! ”

The second clearly attacking Mbappé's contract: “ Now it's official, it's Mbappé who takes the penalties at PSG. Clearly it's a matter of contract, because in no club in the world that has Neymar, he would be the second shooter, none!! It seems that because of the contract, Mbappé is the owner of PSG!! "

Students are often known to annoy the neighborhood with their parties. But you know what's worse than living next to a student association? Being Neymar Jr's neighbor! In February, several members of his neighbors complained about the noise caused by the Brazilian's parties.

In his villa in Bougival, in the Yvelines, the PSG striker had organized several parties which started in the middle of the afternoon and would only come to an end after the police made a visit. 

In May 2022, Neymar celebrated his team's Ligue 1 title with his teammates at home. An evening that had lasted until 5 am according to his neighbors, who apparently wanted to file a complaint with the prosecutors office for disturbing the peace. 

After PSG's defeat in the first leg of the round of 16 on February 14 against Bayern Munich, Kylian Mbappé sent a message after the match speaking about prepations needed for the crucial second leg: "All our players must be in good health. Let everyone eat well and sleep well." 

A statement which, according to many football fans, could target Neymar Jr and his questionable lifestyle. Two days later, the fans learned that the Brazilian went to the European Poker Tour – a tournament organized by one of its sponsors, Pokerstars, at the Hyatt Regency in Paris – after the first loss.

RMC reports that, after this event, the Brazilian returned to his hotel in the evening, to take part in another poker tournament, the “Mystery Bounty”, with an entry of 10,000 euros.

He then went to a fast food joint with his friends. Behavior that goes against Mbappé's words: Neymar neither ate well nor slept well ahead of the second leg in Paris… He played poker and ate fast food.

On May 3, dozens of Parisian supporters went to Neymar's home to demand his departure. While the striker did not react on social networks to the events, he liked messages on Instagram.

On May 4, Neymar's Instagram account likes a post that claims: ' This PSG team is the worst in recent years. For what? Because they renewed their prince  [Mbappé]  for an extraordinary amount. The same prince who caused the Champions League elimination, who had an easy pass for Neymar but made a pass to the keeper against Bayern. He thinks he is God now.”