‘Don’t blame Neymar… we are all guilty!’: Thiago Silva defends Paris Saint-Germain’s star man after late Champions League defeat at Liverpool
- Neymar came under criticism despite setting up Kylian Mbappe’s late equaliser
- Klopp revealed Liverpool targeted the winger’s lack of defensive discipline
- Neymar was outshone by Brazil teammate Firmino who scored the late winner
Paris Saint-Germain captain Thiago Silva has made sure the criticism is equally spread after the French champions failed to turn up at Anfield for their first Champions League tie of the season.
Liverpool were able to grab a massive 3-2 victory which could prove to be crucial as the other game in their group saw Napoli draw 0-0 with Red Star Belgrade.
PSG threw the game away in the dying moments and £198million superstar Neymar was made to be the scapegoat by many fans. It didn’t help that Jurgen Klopp revealed after the game that Liverpool had purposefully targeted the Brazilian’s lack of defensive discipline as a weakness.
Neymar failed to have a big impact and many fans blamed him for Paris Saint-Germain’s defeat
Jurgen Klopp revealed after the game that Liverpool had targeted Neymar’s lack of defending
Neymar set up Kylian Mbappe late on for what appeared to be enough to earn PSG a point. However, he was outshone by Brazil team-mate Roberto Firmino who came off the bench to score a last-minute winner.
Silva refused to put the blame on Neymar, saying the winger simply ‘did what the coach asked of him.’
He added: ‘Neymar tried to help the team. People will try to find a culprit. We are all guilty, though.
‘We were in trouble in the first half, but we showed character and scored. I am happy with my team’s performance, the match was of a high level.’
PSG captain Silva says Neymar followed the coach’s orders and the team must share the blame
The match started poorly for PSG as 30 minutes in Daniel Sturridge scored on his first Champions League start since 2012, heading home from Andy Robertson’s cross.
Things then went from bad to worse for the French outfit as just six minutes later, Georginio Wignaldum was fouled in the box by Juan Bernat and James Milner had no problem slotting the penalty past Alphonse Areola.
PSG replied when Thomas Meunier was able to latch onto a Angel di Maria cross which deflected off Roberton and smartly put it past Alisson.
Neymar set up Mbappe to equalise in the 83rd minute but in the dying moments Firmino was able to collect the ball outside the box and finish emphatically to win Liverpool a hard-earned three points.
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