Neymar played a leading part in the unprecedented anti-racism protest which saw Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir players leave the field in their Champions League match this week, and the Brazilian has also been living up to his status as the world’s most expensive player in recent weeks.
The former Barcelona superstar’s hat-trick in PSG’s 5-1 win over the Turks when the game restarted a day later included two goals that were simply out of this world.
Neymar had previously scored the winner against RB Leipzig and a brace in the 3-1 victory at Manchester United and his goals allowed the French champions to finish top of an awkward Champions League group.
He explained the decision to walk off in protest at the alleged use of a racist term by one of the Romanian match officials was something that “needed to be done to see if the world can change a little”. The images of him kneeling, with a clenched fist raised, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement were powerful. (Punch)
