Thomas Tuchel Defends Neymar Following ‘Go F**k Yourselves’ Furious Comment

Paris Saint-Germain head coach Thomas Tuchel defended Neymar after the star’s fired off an angry response to the penalty awarded to Manchester United on Wednesday. The Brazilian’s angry reaction to his side’s loss was natural and in the moment, according to the club’s head coach. PSG crashed out of the Champions League in the last 16 after a 3-1 loss at home to United, bowing out on away goals following a 3-3 aggregate draw.

Marcus Rashford converted a 94th-minute penalty for United after Presnel Kimpembe was ruled to have handled in the area, the referee awarding the spot-kick with the help of VAR. Neymar, sidelined with a foot injury, used Instagram Stories after the game to blast the decision in a profane rant , calling it a “disgrace” and saying the handball “simply doesn’t exist!” However, Tuchel said it was only natural for the Brazil and PSG star to react angrily after the difficult defeat. “Sometimes when you remember yourself in a big, big fight and you remember being very emotional you use words and you react in a way that you take back some hours later,” he told a news conference. 

“You see how emotional he is and how he lives with us and how badly he wanted to help us and Ney, coming back – latest in the quarter-finals – and coming today and biting his nails for every game we play without him. So don’t be too harsh on him. It’s, like I said, hard to accept for all of us who could not play and could do nothing. I would not over-interpret the use of his words in the heat of the challenge and the moment of the decision. It’s quickly typed into a smartphone.”

And while Tuchel was coming to the defense of Neymar, Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi came out to back his manager following the disappointing loss. “I trust the coach,” he said. We will see his decision if he wants to change or if he does not change, but it’s not because we lost a match that we have to act now. We must make decisions with a cool head, but this is not the moment. We want to calm down. We want to see what the coach wants too. It’s very important.”