Neymar banned for three Champions League matches over ref rant

Published April 26, 2019
Paris Saint-Germain's Brazilian forward Neymar gestures as he arrives for a training session at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, near Paris, on April 26, 2019, on the eve of their French Cup final football match against Rennes. — AFP
Paris Saint-Germain's Brazilian forward Neymar gestures as he arrives for a training session at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, near Paris, on April 26, 2019, on the eve of their French Cup final football match against Rennes. — AFP

Neymar was suspended for three Champions League matches by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) on Friday for insulting match officials following Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG) shock exit from this season's tournament to Manchester United.

The Brazil star missed the 3-1 Champions League second leg last 16 defeat on March 6 through injury, but told match officials “to go f**k yourselves” on social media after watching on from the sidelines at the Parc des Princes.

Neymar was found guilty of “insulting/molesting acts against match official”, European football's governing body announced in a statement.

The 27-year-old, who will now miss half of PSG's group stage matches in the Champions League next season, was angry with the award of a decisive injury-time penalty which Marcus Rashford scored to send United through.

“It's a disgrace. They get four guys who don't understand football to watch a slow motion replay in front of the TV,” Neymar wrote in Portuguese on Instagram after the game.

Neymar was reportedly so enraged by the decision to give the penalty that he had to be restrained by PSG staff to stop him entering the referee's dressing room.

In June last year, Neymar's teammate Gianluigi Buffon was handed a three-match suspension after a tirade against referee Michael Oliver following his former club Juventus' similarly dramatic quarter-final defeat by Real Madrid.

Former PSG defender Serge Aurier was the first player to be banned by UEFA for comments made on social media in 2015.

Neymar's ban comes on the eve of his return to PSG's starting line-up after injury for Saturday's French Cup final against Rennes.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...