The Paris Saint-Germain head coach said the winger’s activities were’nervous’ following his dismissal in their 4-3 win over Bordeaux.
Paris Saint-Germain ahead Neymar was exempt from blame for his sending off at a 4-3 triumph over Bordeaux on Sunday after head coach Thomas Tuchel refused to criticise a reckless speech.
Brazil global Neymar was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Bordeaux’s Yacine Adli in additional time of this Ligue 1 battle in the Parc des Princes.
The 28-year-old had an angry exchange with referee Willy Delajod and then seemed to sarcastically applaud the officers as he left the pitch.
But, Tuchel believed Neymar’s response was a natural one given he believed the PSG participant was fouled ahead by Bordeaux’s Youssouf Sabaly.
Neymar is now set to miss PSG’s second Ligue 1 fixture at home to Dijon on Saturday.
“We have to discuss the entire situation,” Tuchel said of Neymar’s struggle in his post-match media conference.
“He’s nervous and he responds. It’s human. He must not, but it’s human. And the Bordeaux participant doesn’t even get a yellow card.”
PSG secured the points following a chaotic win thanks to two goals from Marquinhos and one apiece for Edinson Cavani — his 200th in all competitions for the club and Kylian Mbappe.
It assisted PSG increase their lead to 13 points over second-placed Marseille on top of Ligue 1.
And Tuchel confessed the win helped boost morale as they made a positive response to a 2-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund at the first leg of the last-16 Champions League tie.
“The success is the main thing today because there are things to improve, it’s clear,” added the German coach.
“The players lack a little confidence after a beat. It is like that. We can see that a great deal of teams in Europe following a defeat it is always a bit difficult to regain confidence and spirit.”
Brazilian defender Marquinhos believes PSG should work hard to increase their defensive performances following leaking seven goals in their previous two Ligue 1 matches.
“On the one hand we’re really very strong offensively, but on the other we concede a whole lot of goals,” he told Canal+.
“As defenders we must consider what we can do. In this game it was mostly on set-pieces. We must work collectively.”
