Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) superstar Neymar Jr. took to social media to send an uplifting message to fans following the team's 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg on Tuesday, 14 February.
Kingsley Coman scored the only goal of the match in the 53rd minute. The Frenchman volleyed past Gianluigi Donnarumma in a classy finish from Alphonso Davies' inviting cross. Coman refused to celebrate against his former club after getting on the scoresheet.
The defeat marked the first time since the 2011-12 season that Les Parisiens have lost three consecutive matches. They entered the clash against Bayern on the back of defeats to Olympique de Marseille and AS Monaco.
Neymar, meanwhile, had a mediocre outing against the Bavarians. He was often careless in possession and lost the ball multiple times trying to be flashy. Neymar, however, seemed in good spirits as he wrote on social media:
"GO PSG … All together."
Kylian Mbappe's introduction in the second half certainly made a glaring difference to PSG's attacking performance. While the Frenchman found the back of the net twice, both were chalked offside.
The second leg between the two teams will take place at the Allianz Arena on March 8.
What did PSG superstar Neymar tell Benjamin Pavard?
Bayern Munich's Benjamin Pavard was sent off in injury time of the round of 16 clash against for a reckless challenge on Lionel Messi. Neymar could be seen shouting at the French defender for his actions. He reportedly said (via GOAL):
"You're crazy!"
While Pavard will be unavailable for the second leg against the Parisians, Julian Nagelsmann was happy with how the full-back performed. He said after the game:
"The red card is not very good, especially since 'Benji' had a brilliant match, It was a difficult situation with a lot of speed at Messi. It was 50-50, between tackling or not. It's not very good for the second leg but that's how it is. Today he was brilliant so it's important."
Nagelsmann also claimed that he was surprised by PSG's inability to win the ball back. He said:
"You had the feeling that we were very surprised that we had the ball so much and Paris wanted to do relatively little, I knew they always defend deep, but the fact that they're so passive and so very deep and not really designed to win the ball surprised me a bit."
While Bayern scored at the Parc des Princes, the away goal rule has been removed from this year's competition.