Neymar out of PSG trip to Lyon today

Neymar will miss Paris Saint-Germain’s trip to Lyon tonight with a thigh problem, the Ligue 1 leaders said on the eve of the game. PSG said the world’s most expensive player had “pain in his right thigh”.  The Brazilian already missed last weekend’s 1-0 victory at Nantes with a rib injury but returned to score four goals and set up two more in the 8-0 win over Dijon on Wednesday, PSG’s record home victory. His performance in that game was clouded by boos from the Parc des Princes crowd when he stepped up to take a penalty to score his fourth goal.
PSG fans had been hoping Edinson Cavani would take it to get the goal he needed to become the club’s outright all-time leading scorer — he is currently level with Zlatan Ibrahimovic on 156. Unai Emery’s side are currently nine points clear of Marseille at the Ligue 1 summit, with Lyon two points further back in third.

Zidane fuels Neymar to Madrid speculation
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane stated his admiration for Paris St Germain forward Neymar yesterday amid continuing reports in the Spanish media over a future bid to take the Brazilian to the Bernabeu.
Asked about Neymar at a news conference ahead of Real’s Liga home game with Deportivo La Coruna today, Zidane said: “I don’t talk about players that aren’t mine, but having said that, and this is very important, he’s a player that everyone on planet football loves because he is a great player.”
PSG, who face Real in the last 16 of the Champions League, plucked Neymar from Barcelona last August for a world record 222mn euros ($271.28mn) although despite his impressive displays on the pitch he has cut an unhappy figure at times.
Real tried to sign Neymar when he was at Santos but were pipped to his signature by Barca and last month the club’s president Florentino Perez made a thinly veiled appeal to the Brazilian to join the 12-times European champions.
“Being in Madrid would make it easier to win the Ballon d’Or,” Perez said. “Madrid is a club that gives a big player everything they need to do so. Everyone knows I wanted to sign him.”
Real have lost two and drawn one of their last three league games and fallen 19 points behind runaway leaders Barcelona. Today’s game against Deportivo, who are in the relegation zone, offers the floundering European and Liga champions a chance of temporary relief from their crisis.
Zidane said his ‘BBC’ strike force of Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema were fit to play, though he did not reveal if he would field the trio, who have not started a game together since facing Barcelona in April last year. “It’s great news, it’s always good to be able count on players of such quality and get your injured players back and I’m happy to have them back as they give us more power in attack,” Zidane added.