Brazilian star Neymar is on course to return to the PSG starting XI for the first time in almost three months when the French Ligue 1 leaders take on hosts Nantes in a league encounter on Saturday night. Neymar had been absent from the PSG team for almost three months after he suffered an ankle problem during the league match at Saint Etienne at the end of November 2021. He was stretchered off during the game as a result of the injury in addition to the fact that he was in tears. The initial diagnosis from PSG was that Neymar could spend around six to eight weeks on the sidelines before he returns to first-team football, but it took a longer time before the former Barcelona and Santos attacker recovered from the injury.
Brazilian international Neymar came on for PSG in the final quarter of the game to good effect as he came close to scoring the first goal of the game after he received a pass from fellow attacker Lionel Messi who had already missed a second half penalty, but he was unable to score from a tight angle. He then produced a stunning backheel assist for KylianMbappe who still had a lot to do before netting the only goal of the game for PSG.
Mbappe took his tally to 22 goals in all competitions with the lone goal in the game after four minutes of stoppage time. He tricked his way past both Eder Militao and Lucas Vazquez before finding the back of the net to give PSG an advantage ahead of the second leg in Madrid in three weeks’ time.