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Football

10th May 2019

Neymar receives three match ban for hitting fan after PSG cup final defeat

Wil Jones

What did he expect?

Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar has received a three match ban after he hit a Rennes fan in the aftermath of their defeat in the French cup final.

Rennes won the game on penalties.

The Brazilian had scored PSG’s second goal of the game at the Stade de France with little over 20 minutes played on Saturday.

Though it seemed inevitable the French champions would build on their two-goal lead, Rennes halved the deficit through a Presnel Kimpembe own-goal before half-time.

Having equalised through Edson André Sitoe, Rennes forced the game to extra-time, where Kylian Mbappe was sent off, before eventually beating PSG on penalties.

Presumably angered by the shock defeat, footage surfacing on Twitter after the game showed Neymar taking exception to being filmed by a supporter on a cameraphone as he made his way to collect his runners-up medal, appearing to hit out at the man after briefly exchanging words.

Now it has been confirmed that Neymar will be banned for three games over the incident.

The suspension does not start until Monday, meaning that he will miss PSG’s last two games of this season, and the first game of next season.

Neymar is already due to face a ban in the Champions League next season following his comments about PSG’s dramatic elimination from this season’s competition at the hands of Manchester United.

Having described the officials on the night as “four people who know nothing about football”, the 27-year-old was given a three-game suspension – enough to keep him out of the first half of the group stages in 2019/20.