Paris Saint-Germain beat Chelsea 5-2 in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. Chelsea forward Pedro Neto has apologised for pushing the ball boy in an interview.
Neto said: “I want to speak out about what happened on the pitch and apologise to the ball boy. I have already spoken to him. We were losing the game, emotions were high, and I gently pushed him when I tried to get the ball.”
“I realised I had hurt him, so I apologised immediately. That is not the kind of person I am. I gave him my shirt because that kind of behaviour should never happen. I am really, really sorry.”
“My French is not very good. My Portugal national team teammate Vitinha came over to help me translate and tell the boy that this is not my true character.”
“In the end he smiled, I gave him my shirt and I must have said sorry about 35 times. He understood what happened in the moment and was happy with how it ended.”
In stoppage time of the match, Neto ran to the touchline trying to retrieve the ball from the youngster. Clearly frustrated with the speed at which the ball boy collected the ball, Neto pushed him.
The incident left the ball boy on the ground, and PSG players immediately confronted Neto. VAR checked for a potential red card, but Neto avoided punishment and apologised to the boy.
