Paris St-Germain forward Angel di Maria has been banned for four matches for his role in a bad-tempered Ligue 1 defeat by Marseille on 13 September.<\/p>\n
Di Maria, 32, was accused of spitting at Marseille defender Alvaro Gonzalez during a match in which five players were also sent off after a late brawl.<\/p>\n
The Argentina international was one of seven PSG players to test positive for coronavirus before the season.<\/p>\n
The league did not confirm his ban was for spitting.<\/p>\n
Former Manchester United winger Di Maria had returned a negative Covid-19 test before the French top-flight season began.<\/p>\n
The video assistant referee chose not to take action against Di Maria at the time of the incident with Gonzalez and he played the full game as champions PSG lost 1-0.<\/p>\n
PSG’s Neymar, Leandro Paredes and Layvin Kurzawa, and Marseille’s Jordan Amavi and Dario Benedetto, were all dismissed in injury time.<\/p>\n
As he left the pitch, Neymar told the fourth official he had heard a racist comment. The Brazil forward later posted on social media that his “only regret” was not hitting Spanish defender Gonzalez in the face.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez has denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
In announcing Di Maria’s ban – which begins on 29 September – the Ligue de Football Professionnel said it will “examine the file” relating to Neymar and Gonzalez on 30 September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paris St-Germain forward Angel di Maria has been banned for four matches for his role in a bad-tempered Ligue 1 defeat by Marseille on 13 September. Di Maria, 32, was accused of spitting at Marseille defender Alvaro Gonzalez during a match in which five players were also sent off after a late brawl. The Argentina […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":127194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,2,5],"tags":[55446,55451,8825,55449,55448,55450,1595,55447,9350],"yoast_head":"\n