September 17 – Paris St-Germain’s Brazilian superstar Neymar has been banned for two games for his part in the brawl at the end of the fiery Ligue 1 game against arch-rivals Marseille last weekend.
But French football authorities say they will separately investigate his accusation of racial abuse.
Neymar struck out at Marseille’s Alvaro Gonzalez after he claimed the Spaniard used racist language towards him during the match, in which a total of five players were sent off.
PSG defender Layvin Kurzawa was given a six-match ban, the heaviest sanction of all, after he kicked Jordan Amavi, who himself has been banned for three games with Marseille team-mate Dario Benedetto receiving a one-match ban.
Neymar, the world’s most expensive player, was automatically suspended from Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Metz, as was team mate Leandro Paredes for also seeing red against Marseille, and both players are also suspended from Sunday’s away game at Nice.
Neymar was heard on pitchside microphones informing the fourth official he had heard a racist comment while walking off the pitch and later accused Gonzalez of racism on Twitter, urging the authorities to use VAR to clarify matters.
Gonzalez strenuously denied the allegations but has been placed under investigation by the French football league.
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