Neymar will miss Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League last 16 second leg against Barcelona today after failing to shake off a thigh injury, the French champions confirmed. PSG said yesterday the Brazil attacker would continue to train individually and would be assessed again “in the coming days”.
“We have not had to make a decision, it is simply the state of fitness of a player, in this case ‘Ney’, who can’t make it,” coach Mauricio Pochettino said ahead of the game at the Parc des Princes.  “He is not fit enough to play a competitive game. This is just a reality, a fact. It’s a shame because he had been really looking forward to this game. It is a difficult moment for him because he had been expecting to recover but clearly he is still a few days away from being able to help the team.”
The 29-year-old has not played since picking up the injury in a French Cup victory over Caen in early February. He also missed the first leg of the Champions League tie at the Camp Nou, which PSG won 4-1 with Kylian Mbappe scoring a hat-trick, due to the issue.
That result puts Pochettino’s team in a strong position to qualify for the quarter-finals going into the return leg, although the former Tottenham Hotspur coach preached caution in front of the media. “We still need to play a game of football, and be focused on that,” he said. “We have to attack and win the game. That is what we have prepared for.”
Pochettino added that Italy right-back Alessandro Florenzi could return after sitting out the last three games due to injury. Moise Kean, who scored in the first leg, is still missing after testing positive last week for Covid-19. PSG threw away a four-goal lead in a 2017 last-16 tie with Barcelona by losing 6-1 in the second leg but Pochettino said that match was irrelevant to him, while stressing the importance of his side making a good start to the game.
“I’m not conditioned by what happened in the past or have any emotion about it,” said the Argentine, who reached the 2019 Champions League final with Tottenham Hotspur and succeeded Thomas Tuchel as PSG coach in January. “We just have to try to win the game to get to the next round and that’s what we’ll try to do from the first minute. How we both start the game is crucial. There’s still 90 minutes to play and we have to be consistent throughout the game and imagine that we are starting the tie at 0-0.” 


Nothing is impossible against PSG, says Barca coach Koeman
Meanwhile, Ronald Koeman insists Barcelona can pull off another incredible comeback against Paris Saint-Germain , especially if Lionel Messi plays at his sensational best. Koeman believes his team can repeat the ‘remontada’ of 2017.  “There is always a chance,” said Koeman. “It depends how we start the game, the energy we put into making life difficult for them and how ruthless we are. They were ruthless in the first leg but we always create chances, so if we can be absolutely ruthless, nothing is impossible.” 
Despite scoring a penalty in the first game at Camp Nou, Messi was overshadowed by a statement performance from PSG’s Kylian Mbappe, who ripped Barcelona apart with a stunning hat-trick. But Messi has been in good form with seven goals in his last seven games and Koeman believes his captain can produce something special to turn the tie. “If Leo can play one of his best matches, everything is possible,” Koeman said. “He is the kind of player than can decide any match, at any time.” 
Messi has been in the spotlight this week after Joan Laporta won the club elections to return as president on Sunday. Laporta oversaw Messi’s breakthrough at Barca during his first term in charge and has expressed optimism about persuading the 33-year-old to stay. “The new president has a history with Leo and other players in the team which is positive,” said Koeman. “I don’t know if it changes anything for Leo because only he can decide his future. But of course everyone at Barca wants him to stay with us.”