25/04 - 20:00
One of Neymar's biggest talents has been his ability to polarize fans all over the world, dating back to the days before his arrival in Europe.
Clips of his outrageous skill at Santos were often accompanied by snapshots of him mimicking an alligator death roll every time a defender took him down, and little has changed over the past eight years.
However, last night’s win over Bayern saw no theatrics whatsoever, yet it has provoked as much debate as anything the Brazilian has ever done in a PSG shirt.
French outlet L’Equipe, renowned for the harshest player ratings in the game, only ever handing out ten 10/10 performances in their history, gave Neymar an impressive 8/10, Opta data-driven site SofaScore rewarded Neymar with a 5.5 display, the worst of any player on the pitch.
Uefa handed the number 10 the Man of the Match award, while Opta handed him a humbling four big chances missed, and it’s easy to understand both viewpoints.
Neymar won the war against Manuel Neuer, progressing to the semi-finals, but it’s fair to say he lost the battle, or battles, to be precise.
Denied from point-blank range in the ninth minute by Neuer, Neymar was stopped with a huge chance once again, all alone against the German after getting played in by Kylian Mbappe.
Stoned at the near-post soon after, Neymar then finally beat Neuer with what would have been one of the goals of the tournament, only to see his sublime solo effort cannon off the bar.
Again it was another one-on-one after an excellent Mbappe pass, again he beat Neuer, but again the woodwork stopped a tie-winning goal.
That was it for the first half boxing match between two of the game's greats, but the second 45 saw the biggest head-in-hands moment of the game, when Angel Di Maria brilliantly fashioned a pass across the six-yard box for Neymar to tap into an empty net, but he couldn’t get there in time.
With a minute to play, Mbappe was at it again, playing Neymar in alone against Neuer on a counter-attack, but as the Bayern captain ran out to clear the ball, Neymar seemed to give up on it early, knowing the inevitable outcome.
While he was up against probably the greatest one-on-one goalkeeper the game has ever seen, Neymar can hardly use that as an excuse with his £220 million price tag making him far-and-away football’s most expensive ever player.
And even though Neymar did thrill, and there was some bad luck involved that saw him fail to perhaps deservedly decide the tie, an all-time great player was beaten by an all-time great player, with Manuel Neuer receiving some vital help from the post.
It wasn't too dissimilar to last year's final between the sides in which Neymar and Mbappe squandered a series of promising-looking breakaway chances against Bayern's defence, and while this time PSG squeaked through, another polarizing display like last night could prove costly as we move onto the final four.
