The Brazilian admonished the team for their role in the altercation, but suggested the situation could have been avoided with a different referee
PSG sporting director Leonardo has said his team “lost our minds” during an incredible brawl that saw five players sent off in their 1-0 loss to Marseille on Sunday.
Neymar was among the players shown red in injury time during the Ligue 1 clash, with the Brazilian star accusing Marseille’s Alvaro Gonzalez of racism as he exited the Parc des Princes pitch following his dismissal.
In a social media post after the match, Neymar claimed his only regret was not “hitting that asshole in the face.”
Leonardo chose not to comment on the allegations by the Brazilian star, but instead criticised the Parisians for their actions in the game-ending fight.
“The fight is very serious, we will manage internally, we will talk to our players,” Leonardo said to Telefoot post-match.
“We lost our minds.”
Florian Thauvin’s 31st-minute winner earned Marseille the victory in an ill-tempered match that saw 36 fouls committed and 12 yellow cards awarded, before the five reds were produced in injury time.
Along with Neymar, PSG saw Layvin Kurzawa and Leandro Parades sent off, while Marseille had Jordan Amavi and Dario Benedetto given their marching orders by referee Jerome Brisard.
While Leonardo didn’t make direct excuses for the behaviour of the players from both teams, he suggested Brisard was too inexperienced to handle a match between two of France‘s biggest rivals and said it was too early in the season for a game of this magnitude.
“Fourteen yellows and five reds means the game was out of control, I’m not going to defend indefensible behavior,” Leonardo said.
“I don’t understand. Do a Clasico on the third matchday? Nobody is 100 percent [match fit] in the conditions.”
The PSG chief then suggested two Ligue 1 referees he would have preferred to see officiate the match instead of Brisard.
“I don’t understand why you do not have [Clement] Turpin or [Ruddy] Buquet. We choose a 34-year-old referee who does not have the experience for a match like this.
“We’ve had Turpin previously — we need referees like that for matches of this level.
“On what happened [in the brawl], the TVs have the pictures, it will be judged.
“There are five reds, which is serious too. You have to know what happened and judge everything.”
PSG’s defeat was their second consecutively to start their Ligue 1 title defence after losing 1-0 to newly-promoted Lens last matchday.
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