Paris St-Germain 0-1 Marseille: Five sent off in injury time after brawl

Neymar was one of five players sent off after a fight in injury time when Marseille beat Paris St-Germain in Ligue 1.

But a late fight saw PSG substitutes Leandro Paredes and Layvin Kurzawa, and Marseille duo Jordan Amavi and Dario Benedetto, sent off.

Then the referee saw a VAR replay of a Neymar hit and showed him a direct red card.

As he left the field, the Brazilian told the fourth official that he had heard a racist comment.

The game, which was watched by a crowd of roughly 5,000 fans at the Parc des Princes, was contentious even before that late fight. A total of 17 cards were shown, a record for a Ligue 1 game in the 21st century.

The injury time drama began when Marseille’s Benedetto elbowed Paredes in the back, and the PSG midfielder slammed him into the ground before appearing to head butt Alvaro.

A riot broke out, with Kurzawa and Amavi hitting and kicking each other.

Benedetto and Paredes each received a second yellow card, and Kurzawa and Amavi were red in a row.

A VAR review showed that Neymar had punched Álvaro, a player with whom he had been in a battle, in the back of the head and was shown a direct red card, as he had been previously booked.

Álvaro had also been involved in a large flash point in the first half when he suggested that Angel di Maria spit on him.

Di Maria was one of seven PSG players, along with Neymar, who tested positive for coronavirus before the season began, although he had since provided a negative test.

What about the game itself?

In any other circumstance, the headlines would have been about Andre Villas-Boas’s famous Marseille win over PSG.

Marseille last beat PSG at Le Classique, one of the biggest rivalries in French football, in 2011.

PSG, who lost 1-0 to promoted Lens on Thursday, have lost their first two league games for the first time in 36 years. They finished 13th that season.

The last time they lost their first two games without scoring was in 1978.

Including the Champions League final against Bayern Munich just 21 days ago, that’s three 1-0 losses in a row.

Thauvin scored the only goal when he volleyed a Dimitri Payet free kick from close range. Di María and Benedetto had goals canceled for offside.