This time, we can hardly blame the Parisians for having challenged the decision of the referee, Daniel Siebert.
We are in the 89th minute of this Maccabi Haifa-PSG, this Wednesday September 14 in the 2nd day of the Champions League, the Reds and Blues have just scored their third goal of the evening through Neymar, who adds the icing on a cake that took a while to bake.
It was then that the man in black decided… to give the Brazilian a yellow card.
Misunderstanding for the Parisians, who gather around the German who points to the Sammy Ofer Stadium stand in front of which Paris had just scored to justify his decision.
The Brazilian's sanction therefore came… from his celebration, which will have been interpreted as a chambering of the Parisian number 10.
For months, it has always been the same when Neymar shakes the nets, which has therefore given us a lot of opportunities to observe it: thumbs glued to the temples and fingers in the air, he sticks out his tongue while waving his hands.
A childish celebration but quite innocuous a priori, which this time will have been interpreted as provocation against the opposing public.
DANIEL SIEBERT ✋🏽😝🤚🏽 https://t.co/LnVBuaVQ8S
— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) September 14, 2022
“Now I ask, okay?
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Under the fire of numerous and constant criticisms since the beginning of his career, Neymar had justified this celebration at the start of the season in a tweet, presenting it as a snub to his detractors: “A grimace for the haters!
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The player reacted immediately after the match on his social networks.
“Football is getting more and more boring!
“he wrote in an Instagram story.
“One more victory, congratulations to us, we continue, he said again.
On the other hand… celebration, yellow card.
These things only happen to me.
Next time I'll let the referees know what I'm going to do."
He also split several tweets.
“Now I ask, okay?
“Or” Total lack of respect for the athlete “, he continues.
“Things like this cannot happen.
I get a yellow card for doing nothing.
(…) A great lack of respect.
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#liberaacomemoracaoDanielSiebert
To pedindo agora tá?
pic.twitter.com/ko5ZnqA3ui
— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) September 14, 2022
“I had no explanation, reacted, puzzled, Christophe Galtier at a press conference.
I asked him to stay very calm, he had just scored a magnificent and very important goal for us.
The referee considered that there was a little too excessive celebration on the goal.
This is a very severe card for me.
»
A situation that recalls a famous precedent for Paris Saint-Germain.
In 2014, when PSG traveled to the Stade de France to face RC Lens, Edinson Cavani was outright… expelled because of his celebration.
After scoring, he knelt down and mimicked a rifle shot, a gesture he made over and over again during his Parisian years, towards the stands.
Except that this time, this gesture had not passed with the evening referee, Nicolas Rainville.
In the process, he even sent him a second yellow card for protest, and therefore expelled him.