Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar has been charged with making “insulting acts against a match official” following his comments about the Champions League tie with Manchester United. The 27-year-old called the decision to award United a 94th-minute penalty in the match on 7 March “a disgrace.”
Marcus Rashford’s scored to ensure a 3-1 win and the Premier League side went through to the Champions League quarter-finals on away goals. A hearing date is yet to be confirmed.
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!”
The penalty was awarded through VAR after referee Damir Skomina had initially given United a corner when Diogo Dalot’s shot struck Presnel Kimpembe and went over the crossbar. Skomina received a signal to check for a possible handball in the box and subsequently changed his decision.
However, PSG coach Thomas Tuchel said after the incident that 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 smart phone.”
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, via L’Equipe. We will see his decision if he wants to change or if he does not change, but it’s not because we lose 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.”
PSG have now gone out of the Champions League at the Round of 16 for the 3rd year in a row. The Paris club hoped to win the elusive European crown and would have to wait another year to challenge for the title.
Neymar missed both legs of the tie through injury but wrote in an Instagram post that the penalty “doesn’t exist”. He added: “Four guys who know nothing about football watch a slow-motion replay in front of the television.”