Neymar is facing a Uefa investigation after posting a foul-mouthed message on Instagram following the Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League defeat by Manchester United last week.
A furious Neymar has to be restrained from confronting the referee after the 3-1 defeat, which secured United progression to the quarter-finals on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate result.
Posting in his Instagram story, Neymar said: “This is a disgrace, they put four people that know nothing about football in charge of looking at the replay for VAR," he said.
"There is no penalty. How can it be a handball when it hits his back?! Go f**k yourselves!”
Uefa have now announced that the Brazilian is under investigation for his outburst.
A statement from Uefa read: “In accordance with the Article 31 (3) (a) of the Uefa Disciplinary Regulations, Uefa has today announced that it has appointed an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to conduct an investigation regarding the comments made on social media by the Paris Saint-Germain player Neymar Junior, following the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United FC, played on 6 March 2019 in France.”
The Brazilian superstar has been out of action since mid-January with an injury that had ruled him out of both legs of the last-16 tie, but his hopes of returning for the quarter-finals were killed when Marcus Rashford converted a late, late penalty after VAR intervened to punish Presnel Kimpembe for handball.
PSG were stunned by the decision of referee Damir Skomina at the time, but Neymar's post-match rant went way beyond the anger of his teammates in conducting their post-match media duties.
Neymar was brought to Paris in a £200m deal with the idea of elevating the Ligue 1 champions into the continental elite, but while PSG can go toe-to-toe with any club in the transfer market they have acquired an unfortunate knack of humiliating Champions League exits.
PSG boss Thomas Tuchel defended Neymar after his outburst was read to the German in the post-match press conference.
“Of course it’s a strong reaction, he was at the field.
"Sometimes after a big fight you use words and reaction emotionally that you take back some hours later. He wanted to come back with us in the quarter-finals and he’s been biting his nails at every game we’ve played, so don’t be too hard with him. I wouldn’t over-interpret the use of his words. In the heat of the moment, it’s quickly typed into a smart phone.”
