Marseille players instructed to 'nibble' Neymar

Midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa revealed that coach Rudi Garcia asked his players to target Neymar in the recent match at Velodrome.

“My job was to annoy Neymar and make him angry,” Anguissa told L'Équipe. “The coach told me that Neymar is very talented, but also easily angered. So I had to avoid dangerous fouls. Instead, I nibbled on Neymar, often causing him to fall to the ground. There was a situation where I followed him from the right wing to the middle of the field, about 30 meters, and then fouled him.”

Neymar received a red card in the match against Marseille last weekend. Photo: Reuters

Garcia and his players' intentions were successful when Neymar received a second yellow card and left the field in the final minutes. It was a retaliation against midfielder Lucas Ocampos - who fouled Neymar after the referee had blown the whistle.

“Neymar was quite relaxed at the start of the game, but he gradually lost his composure. We wanted to put more pressure on him than the other players, although we didn’t want to hurt him. However, Neymar’s red card didn’t help us at the end of the game,” Anguissa said of Edison Cavani’s stoppage-time free-kick equaliser.

After the match, Neymar said: “The referee was heavy-handed and unfair. I was constantly fouled throughout the match, my body was covered in bruises. The referee clearly wanted to send me off the field.”

According to VNE