Neymar and Alvaro are in a boat.
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FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Neymar and Alvaro pass Wednesday before the disciplinary commission of the League and incur up to ten suspension games.
The goal will be to establish "what was actually said, what was actually heard", explained Sébastien Deneux, chairman of the disciplinary committee in mid-September.
Cases directly involving players remain quite rare in the recent history of Ligue 1.
17 days of speculation, lip reading and sometimes relativism.
Unless postponed, the followers of French football will know on Wednesday what sauce Neymar and Alvaro, accused of racism - and homophobia for the first named - during the classico PSG-OM, will be cooked.
The two men pass Wednesday before the disciplinary committee of the League and incur up to ten games of suspension.
Did Alvaro treat Neymar as a "monkey", as the Brazilian assures him?
He replied with offensive homophobic remarks against the Spaniard, as claimed by a Spanish channel?
Did he also utter a racist insult against the Japanese Hiroki Sakai, what a source close to OM believes.
These are all questions that the committee will have to answer.
Spanish media broadcast lip reading incriminating Neymar via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/5VtpfTTCL1
- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) September 30, 2020
Almost non-existent case law
The goal will be to establish "what was actually said, what was actually heard", explained Sébastien Deneux, chairman of the disciplinary committee in mid-September.
While insisting on the fact that his commission only pronounced "on objective, tangible elements".
If the disciplinary regulations of the French Federation provide for ten games of suspension for “racist or discriminatory behavior”, these sanctions can be “reduced”, “increased”, or “combined in whole or in part with the suspension” according to the “circumstances”, indicates this same regulation.
This makes the deliberation rather unpredictable, especially as case law is almost non-existent.
Cases directly involving players are indeed quite rare in the recent history of Ligue 1.
Rooming, insults… But what is he really saying to himself on a football field?
https://t.co/eNhSaOzloB
- 20 Minutes (@ 20Minutes) September 25, 2020
In 2007, Lyon striker Milan Baros was sanctioned with three games of suspension for pinching his nose while waving a hand in front, as if to fan a bad smell, when addressing Cameroonian player from Rennes Stéphane Mbia.
And more recently, in 2013, the Englishman of Marseille Joey Barton had received two suspended matches from the National Council of Ethics (CNE) after having treated the Parisian Thiago Silva of "big" and " transsexual ”, in particular, on social networks.
Since September 13, the cross accusations between Paris and Marseille have multiplied, as have lip reading expertise ordered by different media to try to decipher the words used by the two players on the lawn.
But the animosity has gradually subsided pending the decisive hearing on Wednesday.
Death threats
For Alvaro, "it's very strong emotionally, very complicated", explained Marseille midfielder Morgan Sanson, while the Spaniard lodged a complaint after receiving death threats by the thousands after the meeting.
On the Paris side, coach Thomas Tuchel said he was "worried" in view of the verdict, deeming "not balanced" the sanctions already taken by the disciplinary committee.
Two rounds of sanctions have indeed already been pronounced: the first concerned the Marseillais Jordan Amavi (3 games) and Dario Benedetto (1 game), and the Parisians Layvin Kurzawa (6 games), Leandro Paredes (2 firm games plus one with reprieve) as well as Neymar, already (2 firm matches plus one suspended).
The second pinned Angel Di Maria (4 games) for a spit in the direction of Alvaro Gonzalez.
This promises PSG a further decimated workforce in the coming weeks, if Neymar were to be suspended for several matches ...
Sport
PSG: A Spanish media diffuses a lip reading of racist insults of Neymar towards Sakai
Sport
Marseilles
Homophobia
LFP
PSG
OM
Racism
Neymar