Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Joao Neves capped a miserable night for his side when he was shown a straight red card in the French side’s Club World Cup final defeat by Chelsea.
Neves, 20, released all of his pent-up frustration that had built over the course of what was a lacklustre display from the European champions as they lost 3-0.
It saw him pull the hair of Chelsea left back Marc Cucurella in an incident off the ball that was subsequently reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
That saw referee Alireza Faghani send Neves off after he was deemed to have committed violent conduct.
Reacting to the incident on social media, fans were quick to bemoan Neves’ actions.
One user wrote: ‘Absolute headloss from Joao Neves. Completely unnecessary red card.’
PSG midfielder Joao Neves capped a miserable night for his side when he was shown a straight red card
He pulled Marc Cucurella’s hair in an off-the-ball incident that left the Chelsea player in a heap
He was then shown a red card after the incident was referred to the video assistant referee
Fans flooded to social media to bemoan Neves’ actions in an extremely one-sided final
A second chimed in: ‘Joao Neves was shown a straight red for his behaviour! Shameful act on the football pitch!’
Another user stated: ‘Joao Neves red card, Cucurella should never cut his hair’.
Neves was not the only one associated with PSG to lose their cool as his manager Luis Enrique appeared to push Joao Pedro in the face.
While the cause of the incident remains unclear, Enrique appeared to be protecting one of his players, as both Chelsea and PSG stars clashed after the final whistle.
It marked a fractured and ugly end to a tournament that has not been short on controversy during its newly-expanded format.
Players and managers have consistently complained about having to play in soaring summer temperatures of well over 30C in the United States.
Meanwhile, FIFA has had to deal with the ignominy of seeing some stadiums half-empty during games due to their deployment of dynamic pricing.
That policy – along with the decision to play next year’s World Cup in the North American summer – present big issues for football’s governing body to solve ahead of the World Cup getting under way in 12 months’ time.
