Neymar claims referee 'disrespected' him during Napoli draw

Neymar has called for one of UEFA’s top referees to be punished after claiming he ‘disrespected’ him during PSG’s draw with Napoli on Tuesday night.

The Brazilian star, 26, was booked late on in the Champions League game as the Ligue 1 giants were denied by Lorenzo Insigne’s 62nd minute penalty, but he was still seething about Bjorn Kuipers’ alleged comments when he faced the media.

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Kuipers infamously told Neymar to ‘shut up’ after a penalty he awarded to the Brazilian was overturned thanks to the use of VAR during Brazil’s 2-0 win against Costa Rica.

Neymar told reporters: “The referee told me something he should not have. It was disrespectful.

“I do not want to repeat what he said to me. However, somebody high up should do something. He cannot be as disrespectful as he was with me.

“On the pitch, we are asked to show respect towards the referees. We should get the same in return.”

The attacker was booked in injury time for dissent, as he waited to take a free-kick.

Pictures then showed the Brazilian shouting at Kuipers and appearing to be held back and calmed down by team-mate Kylian Mbappe after taking issue with one of the referee’s decisions.

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Kuipers and Neymar have history. The Dutch official was in charge of Brazil’s World Cup group stage match against Costa Rica when he awarded Neymar a penalty.

However, after consultation with VAR he overturned his decision as the superstar had thrown himself to the ground unnecessarily.

Neymar was not the only PSG star to be left fuming after the match, which leaves Group C wide open. Napoli, Liverpool, PSG and Red Star Belgrade are only separated by two points, with two matches left to play.

Jose Callejon was offside when the ball was played to him before he was fouled by a combination of Gianluigi Buffon and Thiago Silva.

Buffon and PSG’s chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifa both criticised the referee’s performance, with Bernat also denied a second-half penalty when felled in the box.

The veteran goalkeeper said: “We are waiting for VAR to arrive in the Champions League. With VAR, these errors are impossible.”

Al-Khelaifa added: “I have seen the images and there was an offside in the build-up to Napoli’s goal and we should have had a penalty for the foul on Juan.

“We really need VAR in the Champions League as quickly as possible. We lost two points because of refereeing errors.”