Football
Jonathan Johnson, PSG correspondent 7y

Neymar 'more alive than ever' after winning debut with Paris St-Germain

GUINGAMP, France -- Neymar was delighted to mark his Paris Saint-Germain debut with a goal and an assist in the 3-0 win away at En Avant Guingamp on Sunday night and revealed that he feels "more alive than ever" after his €222 million move from Barcelona.

The Brazil international set up Edinson Cavani for the French capital outfit's second goal at Stade de Roudourou before the Uruguay international returned the favour. And speaking with Canal+ after the final whistle, Neymar made his happiness clear.

"I am very calm," said Neymar. "I knew that leaving Barcelona would be difficult but I am very happy here. People liken leaving Barca to death but I feel more alive than ever before. I am very happy and the football is essentially the same.

"I am very happy to have won the Man of the Match award but the most important thing was to win the game. It is very easy to play with players of this quality.

"I am happy to have scored and for our victory. I am simply very happy to have scored, it was something very important. I am already blending well with my new teammates and it is very, very easy to play with these sorts of players."

PSG coach Unai Emery was happy with his new signing and marvelled at the star power available to him at Parc des Princes.

"Neymar? He is a great player and great players always show themselves and enjoy playing together," Emery said. "There are many of them in this team."

Speaking more about his new teammates, Neymar added: "We found each other well on the pitch and we will continue to get to know each other. There are a lot of top players here -- this is a beautiful team.

"My goal? It is always important to score and I hope that I will score more.

"My relationship with Edinson? I knew that he was a craque [top player] and that we would understand each other well. We are still getting to know each other but it is easy to play with him and Angel. We will continue to get better."

Midfielder Adrien Rabiot was impressed by his new teammate's display in the win over Guingamp and felt like the Brazilian superstar was happy on his Ligue 1 debut.

"Neymar was great," said the France international. "He impressed everybody and enjoyed himself out there, as we saw."

Emery added that he felt "the team played for 90 minutes with the conquering spirit that we wanted to show," and that "the second half was the result of our hard work from the first."

Rabiot also added that "overall, it was a very good performance and our second 45 was particularly good. There are still a few things to work on but it was mostly positive. The coach wanted us to be balanced in the attacking phases and his tactics until bore fruit."

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