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What's the story?
Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil forward Neymar Jr has named former Real Madrid and Manchester City star Robinho as his childhood football idol.
In case you didn't know...
Both players started out at the famous Santos academy, joining the likes of Danilo, Alex Sandro and Brazilian legend Pele as stars to have emerged from the academy. The duo impressed during their stint with the Brazilian outfit and was soon lured away to Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
While Neymar has left Camp Nou to join Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain, Robinho currently plays for Turkish league leaders Istanbul Basaksehir.
Since arriving at the Parc des Princes, Neymar has established a lethal partnership with World Cup star Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani and together they continue to terrorise defences across France.
This season, the Brazilian has netted 20 goals in 23 appearances for the side so far.
Also see : La Liga Transfer News, EPL Transfer News, Gold Cup Standings
The heart of the matter
Neymar has spoken fondly of his idol, stating that he always loved everything his compatriot did. Speaking as the global ambassador for DAZN, the PSG star said (via The Daily Mail UK), "My greatest idol in football is Robinho, since I was little I was passionate about him and always wanted to be like my idol."
The former Barcelona star also admitted that while his career is in football, he does not watch a lot of it at home. Instead, he prefers watching other sports like basketball.
"I don't like to watch much football, So whenever I'm at home I like watching other sports, especially basketball, right?"
"'You know, this is what I follow more... and I think the connection is about being an athlete, admiring other athletes, because I know how hard it's to keep on top, get to the top and keep it at a high level, so I like to follow up."
What's next?
PSG, who sit at the top of the league table, are scheduled to face Caen in Ligue 1 on Saturday night.
