Just like everyone else who watches French football, Neymar was shocked by the Rennes victory in the final of the Coupe de France against his team Paris Saint Germain (3-2). While he was climbing the steps of the stands in the Stade de France, the main stadium in Paris, with a look as empty as someone who had been given a chocolate medal, Neymar came across quite a restless Rennes fan, probably drunk with victory and shouting ‘Oh Buffon, you bastard! Oh Kurzawa, keep your hand! Oh racist (to Marco Verratti)! Oh we’ll teach you how to play football (to Neymar)’.
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Facing such an elegant slur, the Brazilian lost it. He first pushed the fan’s phone away before seeming to get quite aggressive, with a very angry look on his face, before continuing up the stairs to collect his runners-up medal, which he still got by the way, but that’s another story. On Instagram, once he had calmed down, Neymar recognized his mistake.
‘Was I in the wrong? Yes. But no one would have just let it go.’ It is indeed difficult and although we absolutely do not support PSG, we do think this fan should have just kept his words to himself and should have known better how to behave in a situation like this. But what’s done is done, and Neymar will definitely, and quite rightly, face punishment.
Neymar is risking a suspension lasting between 3 and 8 matches
After already being suspended for 3 matches during the Champions League for the beginning of next season after insulting referees when PSG was eliminated, Neymar is also going to be punished by the French Football Federation for his behavior during the final of the Coupe de France. In view of this footage, the Disciplinary Commitee had two possibilities, as the French news source L’Équipe explains. They could either rule that the Brazilian acted ‘against a player/coach/trainer/official or a member of the public’ in which case, he would receive a 5-match suspension. Or they could have ruled it as an act of ‘brutality’ however, the punishment would be set at an 8-match suspension.
Judging from the footage, it seems the first possibility was most fitting but since he ‘apologized for the provocation’ the sanction was actually reduced to a 3-match suspension. So, just like the Champion’s League, Neymar will not be starting in the next season with his teammates in League 1. Paris hasn’t even sorted out all its problems for this season and they now have more for the upcoming season…
