PARIS (AFP) - Neymar was sent off on his return from Covid-19 quarantine after reacting to an alleged racist slur as Marseille snapped their 20-match winless run against Paris Saint-Germain with a 1-0 victory over the reigning Ligue 1 champions on Sunday (Sept 13).
Florian Thauvin's close-range volley on 31 minutes earned Marseille a first victory over their bitter rivals since November 2011 but an ugly scuffle at the end resulted in five red cards at the Parc des Princes.
Neymar, in his first game since testing positive for the coronavirus last week, was dismissed in injury time for hitting Marseille defender Alvaro Gonzalez in the back of the head, which some commentators said was a "rabbit punch".
The Brazil striker appeared to accuse his opponent of racism - a monkey slur was allegedly aimed at him - as he followed red-carded teammates Layvin Kurzawa and Leandro Paredes down the tunnel after he was sent off following a video assistant referee review.
Argentine striker Dario Benedetto and left-back Jordan Amavi were also given their marching orders for the visitors.
"Look at the racism. That's why I hit him," Neymar said as he left the pitch. "The only regret I have is not hitting this a****** in the face," he tweeted after the match.
The former Barcelona star also got into a war of words over Twitter with Gonzalez after the Spaniard posted a picture of himself with black teammates, saying "there is no place for racism" and that "sometimes you have to learn to lose and take it on the field".
The world's most expensive footballer at £198 million (S$347.5 million) tweeted: "You are not a man to assume your mistake, losing is part of the sport. Now insulting and bringing racism into our lives no, I don't agree. I don't respect you! You have no character!"
Neymar "told me it was a racist insult, but I didn't hear anything on the pitch", PSG coach Thomas Tuchel said.
"There is no place for racism in football but I don't think that was the case," Marseille coach Andre Villas Boas told Telefoot. "We'll have to look at it."
PSG, who lost the Champions League final to Bayern Munich last month, have now lost their opening two games of a season without scoring for the first time since the 1978-79 season and the task for Tuchel's coronavirus-afflicted side - Kylian Mbappe, Mauro Icardi and Marquinhos are all self-isolating - does not get any easier this month.
A frenzied schedule awaits, starting with the visit of Metz in midweek and a trip to Nice next Sunday, and Neymar will be suspended for that game and beyond.
However, PSG sporting director Leonardo suggested referee Jerome Brisard lacked the experience to officiate such a highly-charged fixture.
"Fourteen yellow cards and five reds means the match was out of control," said the Brazilian. "Not to criticise the referee but perhaps it's not the time to officiate a 'clasico'."
Marseille are attempting to close the gap on PSG after coming a distant second last season and find themselves with an early six-point advantage over a club that has won the title seven of the past eight years.
"It's an important win, it's historic. It's a very good win, a tough and obviously difficult one," said Villas-Boas.
