Chelsea were beaten by PSG and emotions boiled over with Pedro Neto shoving a ballboy before the home players came running in as VAR checked for a possible red card
Pedro Neto shoved a PSG ball boy as tempers flared in Chelsea's Champions League clash in France - but the winger was quick to come out and own his mistake as he apologised and handed his shirt to the young individual.
Chelsea were chasing goals in the final minutes as they trailed the defending European champions. PSG had scored twice through Vitinha and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to put themselves 4-2 ahead and the Blues were in no mood to waste time.
As a result their Portuguese winger, who had laid on an earlier assist for Enzo Fernandez, rushed to get the ball back from a child on the side of the pitch. Clearly unhappy with the speed at which he was going about his business, Neto shoved the individual.
It saw him hit the ground and PSG players rushed over to confront Neto. VAR begun checking for a possible red card, but Neto dodged the punishment and apologised to the child.
Neto was keen to come out after the game to apologise publicly. He told TNT Sports: "I want to come out and say the situation that happened on the pitch, I want to apologise to the ball boy. I already spoke with him, the emotions of the game with us losing, I want to pick up the ball and I gave him a little push. I saw that I hurt him and straight away I apologised, I am not like this. I have him my shirt because that cannot happen so I am really, really sorry."
The Portuguese star admitted that there was a language barrier as he continued to apologise, but his international colleague and PSG star Vitinha came over in his defence, making it clear that the action was out of character.
It would be the Parisians who would score the seventh goal of the night, leaving Chelsea's hopes of a European comeback in tatters. They had twice pegged back the French champions, but were unable to hold on ahead of next week's second-leg.
Filip Jorgensen made a notable error midway through the second-half, which proved crucial in changing the course of the tie. The Dane had continued to play with a high risk approach with the ball at his feet, and one of his passes went array. It allowed Vitinha to lob the Chelsea goalkeeper, who was then out of position.
The Blues face an uphill task if they are to keep their Champions League dream alive. They have claimed some notable wins at home, downing Barcelona 3-0 earlier this season, but the odds of a repeat appear slim with PSG looking in irresistible form.
Kvaratskhelia was key to PSG's European triumph last term and believes they showed the best of themselves. "I think we showed today we are capable of everything," said the Georgian. "We just have to continue like this. We conceded two goals and we can see the mistakes we made, but we are happy with a three goal victory. We will focus now on the next game."