Paris St Germain forward Neymar has said he was the target of a racist slur during the French champions’ 1-0 defeat by Marseille on Sunday, the BBC reported.
The 28-year-old, one of five players sent off during the match at the Parc des Princes, informed the fourth official of the comment while walking off the pitch.
Littered with fouls throughout, the clash boiled over in the last minute of stoppage time when a full scale brawl broke out on the pitch.
PSG’s Neymar, Laywin Kurzawa and Leandro Paredes as well as Marseille’s Dario Benedetto and Jordan Amavi were sent off after players aimed punches and kicks at each other.
Neymar, who struck Alvaro Gonzalez on the back of the head, tweeted after the match that his only regret was not hitting the Marseille defender in the face.
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin criticised on Monday Marseille’s fans for celebrating en masse on the streets of the city, given the risks from the COVID-19 virus in France.
“One can only condemn the images that we are seeing,” Darmanin told LCI television, when shown TV footage of hordes of Marseille supporters partying after the win in close proximity to one another, with many not wearing masks.
Marseille’s smash-and-grab win sparked the celebrations on Marseille’s Vieux Port.
Last week, French Prime Minister Jean Castex singled out Marseille and Bordeaux as among the mainland French cities hardest hit by the resurgence of the COVID virus in France.
Marseille’s hospitals have also been put back on a crisis footing as the virus has started to spread again in France, which has the world’s seventh-highest COVID-19 death toll.
REUTERS