So here we are in 2020. Is it the third time lucky? Is this Neymar’s moment of truth?
Three games now stand between the “red pill” of European enlightenment or the “blue pill” of another footnote on the 28-year-old’s elongating Wikipedia page.
‘Biggest mistake in sport’s history’
Since planting their flag in the cobbled streets of Paris in June 2011, PSG’s Qatari investors have made no secret of their ultimate goal: continental supremacy.
But if Europe is a combination lock, they’ve searched endlessly for the locksmith with the elusive key. Seven times they tried to crack the complex code, to no avail — each failure more painful and bitter than the last.
“A specific timeline has been established and as you go past that timeline every season it seems like PSG is getting further and further away, so there is a weight of history pushing down,” explains French football pundit Jonathan Johnson.
No longer the backing vocalist of Messi and Suarez, but now the leading artist with a license to captivate and become the best in the world.
For some, it was a game-changer; for Kallás it remains “the biggest mistake in the history of the sport.”
A love-hate relationship
His bond with supporters in the city of love has worked its way through the full range of Facebook relationship statuses: from “Married” to “Divorced” to “It’s Complicated.”
All with the allure of a former lover in Catalonia in the background.
The love-hate dynamic surrounding the polarizing figure was perhaps best encapsulated in the superstar’s first league game of the 2019-20 season.
Kallás paints a picture of a jury that is similarly divided in the middle in Brazil over generations: the young pretenders who love ‘the image, the smile, the tattoos’ contrasted with the old guard who ‘is really concerned about him ‘.
The Cold War in Paris has since thawed, along with the realization that going back to the future – for now – is not an immediate prospect.
“He has shown on the pitch and off that he is committed to the project.” […] He really needs to take on the challenge of being a PSG player and achieving something, especially in the Champions League, in Paris,” Johnson said.
Although a new leaf has been rolled on the field, questions remain.
Will the boy become a man?
Neymar’s personal life has – at times – carried the hallmarks of a gripping telenovela – filled with intrigue, and all supported by an ensemble entourage.
Those who want him to succeed, despair: will the boy ever become a man?
“In Brazil we have an expression that says he (Neymar) is an endless promise.” […] That he’s “Menino Neymar” (“Baby Neymar”) — he’s not a boy […] He must be in reality […] He has to grow up,” said Kallás, who has followed the Brazilian’s trials and tribulations on and off the pitch.
“When he’s on the pitch, he delivers […] I’ve never heard a complaint from a coach or any other player about his attitude in training, in the locker room.”
And for all the goals, assists and silverware thus far, history and biology have dealt the twinkling-toed star a brutal hand — deprived him of the chance to have his say on the business side of Europe’s elite club competition. football.
“That’s what makes the rest of this campaign so important and why it’s being watched so closely,” Johnson said.
“It’s make or break”
The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the dynamics for this year’s tournament final – and perhaps beneficial for PSG.
Gone are the two-legged knockout cases from the quarter-finals, replaced instead with single-leg shoot-outs – all within the Lisbon bubble.
While progress in the league – according to Johnson – “would really give the (Qatari) project the shot it needs after a few years of massive disappointment”, this month could mark the beginning of a career defining for Kallás of two years for the individual at the heart of the story.
“We always say, ‘This is going to be the year. No – this is going to be the year. No – this is going to be the year’ […] He’s 28 years old, he should be at the peak of his career, but he’s not […] It’s his last chance.”
The telenovela has had its unforeseen plot twists, its moments of madness and its outbursts of brilliance. Now it is in the hands of the protagonist to write the end of the showpiece.