Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency:  Golder’s News And Sport

Neymar will not face disciplinary action for his foul-mouthed rant at officials after he was shown a yellow card for arguing with the referee about flicking the ball over his opponent’s head.

The incident came in Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-0 win over Montpellier last Saturday at the Parc des Princes. Neymar attempted to rainbow flick the ball over an opponent’s head in the 36th minute, with the ball hitting the defender and going out of play.

The referee then spoke to the Brazilian and reportedly told him to show respect for his opponent, before showing Neymar a yellow card for arguing back.

Neymar lost his cool with the 4th official in the tunnel, reportedly shouting in Portuguese “I play football, I didn’t f*cking say anything, but I still got a f*cking yellow card?”

The fourth official then reportedly told him to “be patient” in English, and the Brazilian responded in a mixture of English and Portuguese: “Be patient? F*ck that.”

However, some reports in France suggested he actually told the official “speak French, my a*se” (in French) and threw a water bottle against a wall.

Neymar did not take part in the PSG match against Nantes (2-1) on Tuesday 4th February. He is reportedly suffering from an injury to his ribs and PSG have not said when he is expected to return.

Many netizens, while eagerly voicing their dislike for Neymar, also in the same breath defended him.

Netizen ‘brettfavre’ said: “He doesn’t directly insult the referee so why would he be penalised? I’m not a big fan of the guy but don’t push it, we’re not in a monastery.”

And ‘UmmaGumma77’ said: “Directly or indirectly, he does not insult the referee… He may be rude, vulgar, and impolite but he is not insulting!”

And ‘ANT0N77’ added: “Astonishing, the referee should have justified himself for the reasons of his yellow card… given to Neymar because he played football too well and this annoyed his friends in the south of France… in short, it’s the SAFE [‘Syndicat des Arbitres du Football d’Elite’] that is protecting itself. Pathetic.”

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