Marco Verratti has insisted that Paris Saint-Germain are still a great team without Neymar even though they were held to a goalless draw away to Montpellier yesterday in the absence of the Brazil international.
With Neymar missing through injury PSG found it difficult to break down Montpellier and ended up dropping points in Ligue 1 for the first time this season.
However, Verratti believes that PSG are still capable of thriving even when they can’t call upon the world’s most expensive player.
As reported by goal, Verratti said: “Everyone thinks like that. It’s like Barcelona without [Lionel] Messi or Real Madrid without Cristiano Ronaldo – it is not because Neymar was not there that PSG hasn’t won.
“We are a great team, even without him. It will just be a matter of turning words into action the next time the situation arises.
“It was a tough game, there was not a lot of space.
“We played at 100 per cent. The concentration is there. We did not let Montpellier have a single shot.
“It got harder to score the longer the time went on. We did have opportunities.
“After six matchdays, it can happen that there is a difficult one. Now we have to think about the Champions League.”
Neymar has made an excellent start at PSG since his record £200 million (€222 million) move from Barcelona, with the winger having scored five goals and provided six assists across five games in all competitions so far this season.
Despite the draw with Montpellier, PSG remain top of Ligue 1 and, in addition to their well documented attacking exploits, Unai Emery’s team have also been resilient defensively, conceding just three times so far.
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