LISBONNE, Portugal (AP) – Neymar has an unexpected turn at the start of Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final between Paris Saint-Germain and Leipzig.
Neymar and Leipzig have close ties to the energy beverage corporate Red Bull, which sponsors the Brazilian and was the creation of the Leipzig team just over a decade ago, with the club still unpopular among many enthusiasts in Germany.
Neymar, who is seeking his first name in the Champions League with PSG, has a long-standing relationship with Red Bull and is promoted through the company.
Last week, Red Bull congratulated him on taking PSG to the European semi-finals after a 2–1 win over Atalanta.
“What a match!” one of Red Bull’s Instagram accounts. “Congratulations to @neymarjr and #PSG who booked their place in the semi-finals of the #UCL!”
Soon after, Red Bull praised Leipzig’s quarter-final win over Atletico Madrid to host the fourth match between his player and his club.
Neymar has partnered with Red Bull since 2010, a year after Leipzig’s founding in Germany.
He and his high school have been organizing a five-team football tournament organized through Red Bull for several years. A few months ago, Neymar gave the impression on the company’s Instagram account of advertising the tournament and offering an educational program to viewers. He is shown holding a can of Red Bull and dressed in a Red Bull T-shirt.
Red Bull’s occasion really created disorders for Neymar last year, when he was unable to show up in time for PSG at the start of the season due to the tournament schedule. PSG questioned Neymar’s assertion that he had informed the club in advance of his plans. The PSG nevertheless issued a saying that it would take “appropriate action” against Neymar.
It was also a Red Bull occasion where Neymar, who also has Nike as the main sponsor, criticized through PSG enthusiasts after saying that one of his most productive memories in football had helped Barcelona beat PSG 6-1 in a Champions League match.
Leipzig was founded in 2009 after Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz purchased the license from a fifth-tier local team, SSV Markranstaedt. The Austrian billionaire changed the club’s name and financed his normal promotion to the lower leagues. The Bundesliga reached in 2016 and the Champions League a few years later.
The partnership with Red Bull has made the club unpopular in Germany, prompting protests from opposing amateur matches. The founding members had links to Red Bull without an open procedure to become voting members, leaving common enthusiasts with few votes on how the club is run.
Leipzig did not pass the organisation level in its Champions League debut in 2017-18, reaching the Europa League quarter-finals. This season, his moment in the most productive European club tournament, he reached the knockout stage of an organization that included Benfica, Lyon and Zenit St. Petersburg, then eliminated last season’s runner-up Tottenham in the circular of 16.
Leipzig, the best performing Red Bull team yet, is not the only acquisition through the energy drinks company. Others come with Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, Red Bulls from New York in the United States and Red Bull Bragantino in Brazil.
A win against Neymar’s PSG would leave Leipzig with a match ahead before the European Cup win.
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