Neymar on PSG with Messi: ‘We lived through hell’

Brazil forward Neymar said he “lived through hell” alongside former teammate Lionel Messi during their time together at Paris Saint-Germain.

Both players left PSG this summer, with Messi joining Inter Miami CF as a free agent and Neymar moving to Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal in a €90 million ($98.6m) transfer.

Asked how he felt about seeing his good friend Messi lift the World Cup with Argentina in 2022, Neymar told Globo’s Esporte Espetacular in an interview given in June that aired on Sunday: “I was very happy for the year he had, but at the same time very sad, because he lived both sides of the coin. He went to heaven with the Argentina team, won everything in recent years, and with Paris he lived hell, we lived through hell, both he and I.”

Messi and Neymar, who had previously played together at Barcelona, won league titles at PSG but failed to bring Champions League success to the club.

Messi found it difficult to adapt to Paris and admitted in June that there was a “fracture with a significant group of the PSG fans” during his two seasons at the club.

Both players were booed and jeered by PSG fans following the team’s exits from the Champions League over the past two years.

Messi, who scored 21 goals and set up 20 more in all competitions last season, was also targeted by a section of the crowd in his final PSG home game.

Neymar said he believes the criticism he and Messi were subjected to was uncalled for.

“We get upset, because we’re not there for nothing, we’re there to do our best, [to] be champions, try to make history,” said Neymar, who missed the second half of last season with an ankle injury.

“That’s why we started playing together again, we came together there so we could make history. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it.”