It has been over nine days since Real Madrid knocked out Paris Saint Germain from this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign but the aftermath of such a moment in world football still lingers on. Since the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second-leg game, fingers have been pointing to Neymar who many believed did not do enough to help PSG to progress in the competition.
Recall that PSG ended their journey in this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign despite going into the second leg of the competition’s knock-out stage with a 1-0 home win.
Despite starting the second leg with Kylian Mbappe’s opener, Neymar was on the pitch and could not prevent PSG from squandering a 2-0 lead. Hence, PSG ended their journey in the tournament 2-3 on aggregate.
Days after the game, PSG’s fans booed Neymar and Lionel Messi ahead of the French Ligue 1 game against Bordeaux which ended 3-0 in favor of PSG. Even though Neymar scored in the game, his critics have not stopped criticizing his performance in the Champions League campaign.
The latest criticism is that PSG paid FC Barcelona €222 million to bring Neymar to France on August 3, 2017. The trolling of Neymar grew to the level his transfer fee to PSG and that of Real Madrid’s first eleven that knocked out PSG from the Champions League was compared.
Based on available data, Real Madrid spent a total of €240 million on all the players that made up the starting eleven that played against PSG on March 9, 2022. This means that the difference between the money PSG spent in signing Neymar and the money Real Madrid spent in buying all the players in the first eleven is €18 million.
Neymar costs PSG €18 million less than the total money Real Madrid used to sign the first eleven that knocked out PSG:
Here is the list of players in Real Madrid’s first eleven that knocked out PSG from the 2021-2022 UEFA Champions League campaign: Thibaut Courtois (Goalkeeper), Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, David Alaba, Nacho Fernandez; Fede Valverde, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric; Marco Asensio, Karim Benzema, and Vinicius Junior.
- Thibaut Courtois: Real Madrid paid Chelsea €35 million to bring Thibaut Courtois to Madrid on August 9, 2018.
- Dani Carvajal: Real Madrid paid Bayern Leverkusen €6.5 million to bring Dani Carvajal to the club on July 1, 2013.
- Eder Militao: Real Madrid paid FC Porto €50 million to bring Eder to the club on July 1, 2019.
- David Alaba joined Real Madrid on a free transfer from Bayern Munich on July 1, 2021.
- Nacho Fernandez is a product of the Real Madrid youth system.
- Fede Valverde joined Real Madrid from Uruguayan Peñarol for €5 million on July 22, 2016.
- Toni Kroos: Real Madrid paid Bayern Munich €25 million to bring Kross to the club on July 17, 2014.
- Luka Modric: Real Madrid paid Tottenham Hotspur €35 million to bring Modric to the club on August 27, 2012.
- Marco Asensio: Real Madrid paid RCD Mallorca €3.90 million to bring Asensio to the club on July 1, 2015.
- Karim Benzema: on July 9, 2009, Real Madrid paid Lyon €35 million to bring Benzema who scored the hat-trick that knocked out PSG from the Champions League.
- Vinicius Junior: Real Madrid paid the Brazilian club Flamengo €45 million to bring Vinicius to the club on July 12, 2018.
Real Madrid spent €240 in total to sign the aforementioned players, €18 million more than the €222 million PSG paid to sign Neymar in 2017.
