Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar planned to mock Erling Haaland‘s celebration before their Champions League round-of-16 clash with Borussia Dortmund, according to teammate Marquinhos.
PSG progressed into the quarterfinals with a 2-0 victory over the Bundesliga side at the Parc des Princes to win 3-2 on aggregate.
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Neymar scored the opening goal and mocked Haaland’s “Zen” celebration and PSG defender Marquinhos said the forward planned it before the match.
“He likes that,” Marquinhos told YouTube channel Desimpedidos. “Neymar is not just a football player, he is not afraid and always responds to provocations.
“After his goal, I asked him if he had taken everything out. He warned me, I told him to wait until the end of the match, but he told me to leave it and not to stop it.”
After the game, PSG players uploaded videos of the whole squad mocking the Haaland celebration in the dressing room.
The team responded to a social media post with an image of Haaland with the caption: “My city, not yours.” It was suggested that Haaland posted it but it later transpired the caption was fake.
Haaland had scored both goals in the first leg and celebrated his second by pretending to meditate. After the first leg, he revealed why he adopted a “zen” pose.
PSG, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals before the competition was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus crisis.