WORLDSPORTS
DECEMBER 2013
BRILLIANT FORM
Neymar vies with Dani Estrada
S
urrounded by stewards
and facing the wrath
of a three-deep line of
seething home fans, Neymar was being escorted
out of Celtic Park just as
Neil Lennon launched his
criticism of the Barcelona
winger.
“I don’t think Neymar
does himself any favours
by the way he behaves at
times,” the Celtic manager said. “Our supporters are very respectful of
great players. (Barcelona
playmaker Andres) Iniesta
walks off tonight to a standing ovation from the Celtic
support. While Neymar, he
gets booed every time he
touches the ball.”
As Lennon spoke —
calmly, despite his anger
inside — at a post-match
news conference, his words
were quickly drowned
out as the jeers of Celtic
supporters toward Neymar
grew louder and louder.
The Brazil international
was one of the central
figures in a game-changing
incident in the 59th minute
of Barcelona’s 1-0 win over
Celtic in the Champions
League.
With the game poised
at 0-0, Neymar was tugged
back and then bundled
over by Celtic captain Scott
Brown as Barca launched
a quick counter-attack.
Brown then went further
by flailing his boot at the
arm of Neymar, who fell
and rolled around on the
ground in apparent agony
and holding his back.
Brown was shown a
straight red card, much to
the dismay of most of the
60,000 fans crammed into
Celtic Park, Celtic's players and to Lennon on the
touchline.
“Neymar has a reputation in the game,” Lennon
said. “Sometimes he exaggerates things a little bit.”
Worse still for Celtic,
Neymar played a part a
NEYMAR
TREATED
RUDELY
hand in the winning goal 16 minutes later,
sending Alexis Sanchez through down the
right before the Chile winger crossed for Cesc
Fabregas to head home.
Neymar was roundly booed each time he
received the ball after the red-card incident and
was the target of even more abuse as he exited
the stadium.
Barcelona coach Gerardo
Martino said he didn’t see the
incident but agreed on one
thing — it turned the match.
“Certainly playing against
a team like Barcelona, playing 35 minutes with only
ON THE SPOTLIGHT
Neymar getting mobbed by photographers.
8
t h e g a m e sports magazine
10 men is something to have in mind when
analyzing the game,” Martino said.
Neymar’s dribbling ability and ball skills
were on full show against Celtic. With his
first touch, he skinned Mikael Lustig with
less than a minute gone. But he got
little change out of a packed and
physical Celtic defense until the
last half hour, when spaces
opened up in Brown’s
absence. THE GAME