Neymar form no surprise for Alves

Neymar’s virtuoso display in Paris Saint-Germain’s 7-1 demolition of Celtic came as no surprise to the star forward’s Brazil colleague Dani Alves.

The €222million superstar scored twice and assisted another goal as Unai Emery’s side continued their stunning Champions League form this season.

With 24 goals scored and five wins from as many games, including a 3-0 thrashing of Bayern Munich, PSG have emerged among the favourites to rule Europe this season after several years of trying to get a foothold on the continent.

The arrivals of Alves and Neymar – who enjoyed stunning success at Barcelona – has done plenty to raise the expectations, but the forward has lived up to the hype, having a hand in 21 goals in 14 appearances already this term across all competitions.

“He is here for that. It is not a surprise for me,” Alves told reporters of Neymar. 

“He came here to make the difference, and people can buy tickets and see the best, not just from him but the whole team.

 

Que Deus nos abençoe e nos proteja God bless and protect us

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“Every day, we get ready to give our best for the supporters that come to watch PSG.

“As I said, it is not a surprise because [Neymar] did it like that his whole career, and it is not going to be different here.”

PSG conceded in the competition for the first time this season when their former academy graduate Moussa Dembele opened the scoring in the first minute.

Alves held his hands up for an error in the build-up, but he had the last word with a looping, outside-of-the-boot finish for PSG’s seventh and the three-time Champions League winner has hopes of a fourth trophy this term.

“I gave them the first goal. I gave them a corner. I was blocked, badly, but at the end I could apologise with a goal,” he added.

“Something like that just comes once or twice during the season, goals like that.

“But I am happy, beyond the victory, beyond my goal, I am happy because the team is balanced, is scoring a lot of goals and is not suffering.

“People just talk about goals, but we also have a good defence, we don’t concede a lot. This makes you stronger and balanced as a team.

“If you want to do something big in this competition, you have to be balanced. We are in a good way, but cannot rely on these results because with all that PSG has done, it is a commitment for us to keep doing it.”