05 March 2023 , 15:01
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Neymar's Barcelona team-mates Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi told the Brazilian to join Manchester City over Paris Saint-Germain if and when he decided to leave Camp Nou.
That's according to Uruguayan striker Suarez, who spent three seasons with his fellow South American at Barca. Neymar joined the Catalan club in 2013, a year before Suarez arrived from Liverpool, and left for PSG in a world-record move in 2017 after tentative links to City early in Pep Guardiola's reign.
The famed 'MSN' front-line of Messi, Suarez and Neymar won the Champions League in 2015 under Luis Enrique, with Neymar scoring the clincher in a 3-1 victory over Juventus. The next two seasons brought quarter-final eliminations, though, and neither Neymar nor Barcelona have won the competition since his exit.
"If Neymar had stayed at Barcelona, he would have won a Ballon d'Or, for sure," Suarez told Spanish outlet Marca, per Manchester Evening News. The forward finished third in 2015 and 2017, but has not returned to the podium since moving to PSG.
"We went to talk to Neymar and told him: 'Ney, if you want to win everything, stay here'. There are all environments that are sometimes difficult to control.
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"We, as friends, advised him to stay, but it's his decision, his family's. We said: 'Neymar, England is better. [Manchester] City, that football will be better there. But in France?"
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Neymar was part of a lethal Barcelona frontline with Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi (Getty Images)The closest Neymar came to another Champions League win was in 2020, when his PSG side lost the final to Bayern Munich. The former Santos star had scored twice during the knockout stages, but drew a blank in the final as Bayern's Kingsley Coman scored the only goal of the game against his former club.
While Suarez is no longer playing in Europe, Messi was reunited with Neymar in 2021. The pair failed to lead PSG to European glory last season, suffering a last-16 defeat by Real Madrid, while another Coman goal leaves them at risk of going out to Bayern again this year at the same stage.
"We tried everything and worked day and night," their team-mate Kylian Mbappe said after the first-leg loss at home to Bayern. "We managed to play a part of the game. It wasn’t what I wanted. I always want to play. But sometimes you have to make do with what you can do. Today, I could only do that."
PSG have won three games on the spin since that Bayern setback, beginning with a last-gasp victory over Lille, to strengthen their lead at the top of Ligue 1. Neymar suffered an injury in that dramatic 4-3 win, though, and will be unable to play a part in the return game against the Bundesliga leaders at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.