The tumultuous competition between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Marseille (0-1) is still simmering in France. After the game, in which no less than five red cards were handed out, the alleged racist statements of Álvaro González to Neymar are mainly discussed. In a statement on Instagram, the Brazilian attacker elaborates on the events during le Classique.

González denied having treated Neymar racistly on Twitter, which led to a seething reaction from the Brazilian attacker. “You’re not a man if you don’t admit your mistake. Losing is part of the sport, but insulting or bringing racist statements into our lives, absolutely not. I DON’T RESPECT YOU! YOU HAVE NO CHARACTER! Find out what you said, dog. Be a MAN! RACIST!” Neymar said. On Instagram, the attacker now comes up with an elaborate and more nuanced response.

“I rebelled and was punished for wanting to hit someone who insulted me. I thought I couldn’t let this go without doing something, because the people responsible didn’t do anything either. They didn’t realise or ignore what was happening. During the match I wanted to answer as I always do: by playing soccer. The facts show that this didn’t work out, I rebelled. In our sport aggression, insults and swear words are part of it. You can’t seek rapprochement,” Neymar writes.

“I understand this guy in part, it’s all part of the game. But racism and intolerance are unacceptable,” Neymar refers to González. “I am colored, the son of a colored father, the grandson and great-grandson of colored people. I am proud of that, and I see myself no different from others. I wanted the arbitration to be impartial and to understand that there is no more room for such things.”

“When I look back and see what really happened, I feel sad about the feeling of hate that we can provoke when something snapped in the heat of the moment. Should I have ignored it? I don’t know. With a cool head I say so. But at that moment my teammates and I asked the arbitration for help and we were ignored. That’s the point! Everyone involved in football has to think about it. An action leads to a reaction. I accept my punishment, because I should have handled it neatly. On the other hand, I hope that the perpetrator will be punished as well. Racism exists and we have to stop it. Enough!”

“That guy was a fool, but I also acted like a fool by getting so carried away. I have the privilege of keeping my head up,” Neymar continues his writing. “I lost myself in the match and lacked wisdom. It doesn’t help if you’re racist and that’s ignored. We’ll meet again and then we’ll do it my way: by playing soccer. Stay at peace! You know what you said. I know what I did. More love to the world.”

Olympique Marseille has included it in an official statement for González. “He is not a racist, he has shown that every day since he joined this club. We will fully cooperate with the investigation of all events during the race and in the 24 hours after that”, Olympique Marseille writes. “The controversy has had some serious consequences. Olympique Marseille condemns the distribution of the telephone numbers of Alvaro and his family members by Brazilian media and on social media, constantly harassing him with death threats, for example”.