A lot has happened in the three years - almost to the day - since Neymar arrived in Paris, having signed a world-record €222m transfer from Barcelona. Injury and persistent rumours of a desired return to the Catalan giants have meant some difficult times for the Brazilian

"These three years came with a lot of knowledge," Neymar confessed. "I've lived times of joy and some complicated ones, especially when I was unable to play due to injuries. With my teammates' help, I was able to overcome and focus on what really matters for everyone, which is our performance in the field translated into titles. Our supporters, the club and every fan can see our team’s delivery in any game."

Stunning stats

Indeed, there may have been tough times for the former Santos prodigy, but there have also been upsides: oodles of goals - 70 goals in 82 appearances in all competitions - and titles, with a domestic quadruple stitched up in Friday night's 6-5 shoot-out win over Lyon in the Coupe de la Ligue BKT Final.

Neymar has lifted the Champions League trophy before, with Barcelona in 2015, and is hungry to help Paris Saint-Germain to similar heights, despite the difficulties imposed by a long pandemic-driven lay-off and fellow superstar Kylian Mbappé's potential injury absence.

'Mark this season'

"I believe that today I live my best moment in Paris," he intoned. "We form a family on behalf of the greater objective we have ahead of us. We want to mark this season with the Champions. We will fight for this, because we were never so close."

Neymar and the rest of Thomas Tuchel's all-conquering side face Sochaux in friendly on Wednesday before flying out to Lisbon ahead of their quarter-final rendez-vous with Serie A upstarts Atalanta at 21:00 CET at the Estadio da Luz on Tuesday, 12 August.