Senegalese midfielder Idrissa Gueye and his Paris St. Germain team mates were beaten 1-0 at home by bitter rivals Olympique Marseille in a tempestuous French Ligue 1 match that saw five players sent off.
Gueye has a had a solid start to the season, completing 94% of his passes and winning 100% of his tackles. However, his efforts couldn’t prevent the French giants from losing
In a match watched by 5,000 fans at the Parc des Princes in Paris, Florian Thauvin scored the only goal in the 31st minute when he volleyed home Dimitri Payet’s free-kick from close range. Angel Di Maria and Dario Benedetto both had goals disallowed for offside for PSG and Marseille respectively.
Known as Le Classique, one of the biggest rivalres in French football, the last time Marseille had beaten PSG was in 2011.
It was PSG’s second successive loss in the French Ligue 1 and the first time they’ve they lost their opening two fixtures without scoring since 1978. They were beaten 1-0 by promoted Lens on Thursday. Including the Champions League final against Bayern Munich only 21 days ago, that is three 1-0 defeats in a row for Thomas Tuchel’s side.
However, the game was marred by some unsavoury scenes in injury-time after a massive brawl saw five players sent off by referee Jerome Brisard, including Brazilian superstar Neymar. He was shown a red card after punching Alvaro Gonzalez, a player he had been having a running battle with throughout the game.
His team mates Leandro Paredes and Layvin Kurzawa, and Marseille’s Jordan Amavi and Dario Benedetto were also dismissed.
However, Neymar told the fourth official as he left the picth that he heard a racist slur. Afterwards he posted on Twitter that his “only regret” was not hitting Marseille’s Spanish defender Alvaro Gonzalez in the face, having struck him on the back of the head.
In response, Gonzalez denied claims of any wrongdoing, posting on social media: “There is no place for racism.”
Gonzalez had also been involved in a major flashpoint in the first half when he claimed Angel di Maria spat at him.
Di Maria was one of seven PSG players – along with Neymar – to test positive for coronavirus before the season started, although he had since provided a negative test.
In the post-match news conference Marseille manager Andre Villas-Boas said: “There is no place for racism in football but I don’t think that was the case.
“We’ll have to look at it.”
PSG are now in 18th place on the French Ligue 1 table. They will attempt to get kickstart their season on Wednesday 16 September when they host Metz while fifth-placed Marseille entertain St Etienne a day later
