Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian forward Neymar (centre) trains with team-mates during their Winter Training Camp at the Aspire training pitch in Doha yesterday. Pic Baher Amin
Brazilian superstar Nyemar, Uruguayan hitman Edison Cavani and emerging French star Kylian Mbappe form part of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) strikeforce that is the envy of world football. The trio are among the most sort after footballers by fans the world over everywhere they travel – to play or to train.
In Qatar, it was no different when the PSG players hit the turf at the state-of-the-art Aspire Academy pitch to have their first training session during their short three-day winter trip. The Parisians took a specially-chartered six-hour flight to Doha. Six hours of relaxation and the players were ready to take part in a series of sponsorship and marketing events yesterday afternoon, an exercise which will continue today morning.
It was a sunny 25 degrees Celsius that met the players upon arrival, where the team bus ferried Unai Emery and his side to the team hotel in Doha at around 11am.
The fans turned in large numbers to come up and close to the their favourite players.
Some turned up at the Grand Heritage Hotel, with PSG memorabilia to get the signature of Neymar and Co. on the football jersey of their favourite club.
Some fans were fortune enough to have the signatures of the troika on the French club’s jersey– a definite collector item for them – over the years.
One such fan, Joanna was over the moon on his prize catch.
“I managed to have the signature of Cavani on the football I was carrying, while Mbappe was kind enough to sign on the hand towel I was carrying, and my joy knew no bounds when Neymar signed on the club jersey I was carrying,” said the 13 year-old student.
“I will show this prized collection to my friends in school. This is an unforgettable moment for me. I will have not get a chance to meet such big stars earlier and to come close to the three leading stars of football within a span of minutes is a dream come,” added the PSG fan, who was at the Hotel Heritage accompanied by his mother.
Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe first brush with the local media also happened at the team hotel and the trio took questions in English, French and Arabic while answering them in Portuguese, Spanish and French.
If there were a handful of fans at the team hotel, the scene at the training grounds was completely different.
Neymar seemed to be enjoying the attention, giving a thumbs up to the fans and taking photographs using his phone, as many took their own pictures of him.
Fans converged from all the four directions and the security personnel had a tough time to keep the eager and enthusiastic fans at an arm’s length from the super stars. In the end they did a good job keeping both the fans and the super stars in good humour.
This is Paris Saint-Germain FC’s fifth annual winter training at Aspire Zone Foundation, which is a testament to Aspire Zone’s capabilities to attract and impress elite international teams year after year.
