Neymar got himself in a bit of pickle after PSG walloped Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday when the Brazilian super-duper-star appeared to snub a handshake request from his man-marker on the night, young defender Anthony Ralston.
The pair had gone tit for tat all match, and the perceived acrimony intensified when Neymar also refused to swap shirts with the 18-year-old, who was making only the sixth senior appearance of his professional career.
However, mitigating circumstances have since come to light that show the PSG striker had a very good reason to turn down Ralston’s shirt-swap request – he’d already pledged to give his match-worn jersey to charity.
Specifically, Neymar agreed to donate his shirt to the Marina Dalglish Appeal, the cancer foundation ran by the wife of Celtic legend, Kenneth…
Neymar, under fire for refusing to shake hands yesterday, donates his game shirt to Kenny Dalglish’s wife’s breast cancer foundation. pic.twitter.com/EEDGXKNBC7
β Andrew Downie (@adowniebrazil) September 13, 2017
Kenny and Marina’s youngest daughter, Lauren, confirmed that Neymar’s shirt was already spoken for and apologised to the PSG forward for all the inconvenience…
Thank you so much @neymarjr! We’re so sorry if we got you into trouble!πAll money raised donated to @MDALGLISHAPPEAL https://t.co/pe5UqjCG5z
β Lauren Dalglish (@laurendalglish) September 13, 2017
It was a pleasure to help !! ππΎππΎππΎππΎ https://t.co/m0JQsOlZCC
β Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) September 13, 2017
So, turns out he’s not a total monster after all.
Who’d have thunk?