Neymar Receives Five Red Card as Marseille Beat PSG
Former Barcelona star player Neymar was one of five players who received a red and was sent off after an injury-time brawl as Marseille beat Paris St-Germain 1-0 in Ligue 1. According to the Brazilian, he said he heard someone making a racist comment at him, the game was filled with lots of red cards as they recieved a total of five red-cards in the game.
Florian Thauvin scored the only goal as PSG lost their opening two league games for the first time since 1984-85. Home substitutes Leandro Paredes and Layvin Kurzawa, and Marseille’s Jordan Amavi and Dario Benedetto were all issued red card alongside the Brazilan forward Neymar. The referee watched a video assistant referee (VAR) replay of a punch by Neymar before showing the 28-year-old a straight red card.
After the match, Neymar posted on social media to say that his “only regret” was not hitting Marseille’s Spanish defender Alvaro Gonzalez in the face, having struck him on the back of the head. Neymar claimed the player made a racist comment to him and that was why he did what he did and he is not sorry for the action.
In response to the former Barcelona star’s comment, Gonzalez denied claims of any wrongdoing, posting on social media: “There is no place for racism.” In the post-match news conference, Marseille manager Andre Villas-Boas said: “There is no place for racism in football but I don’t think that was the case. “We’ll have to look at it.”
The game, which was watched by a crowd of about 5,000 fans at the Parc des Princes, was fractious even before that late brawl. There were 17 cards shown, a record for a Ligue 1 game in the 21st Century. The injury-time drama started when Marseille’s Benedetto nudged Paredes in the back, with the PSG midfielder then punching him to the ground before appearing to headbutt Alvaro.
A melee broke out, with Kurzawa and Amavi punching and kicking each other. Benedetto and Paredes were shown second yellow cards, with Kurzawa and Amavi were given straight reds. The VAR review showed Neymar had punched Alvaro, a player he had been in a running battle with, and the forward was shown a straight red card, having earlier been booked.
Alvaro had also been involved in a big first-half flashpoint when he suggested Angel di Maria spat at him. Di Maria was one of seven PSG players along with Neymar to test positive for coronavirus before the season started, although he had since provided a negative test. Ordinarily, the win would have been an epic one for new Marseille manager Villas-Boas but with all the red cards it seems not very perfect but a win is win.
This is the second defeat for the French Ligue 1 champions, they lost last to newly promoted side Lens 1-0 and now lost Marseille, the last time Paris Saint Germain lost two openings two fixtures without scoring was in 1978. They have now lost three games straight Including the Champions League final against Bayern Munich only 21 days ago, that is three 1-0 defeats in a row for Thomas Tuchel’s side. Thauvin scored the only goal when he volleyed Dimitri Payet’s free-kick in from close range. Di Maria and Benedetto both had goals disallowed for offside.
