Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea faced off this Wednesday at the Parc des Princes in the first leg of their 2025-2026 Champions League round of 16 tie (return leg on March 17). The match, which PSG won 5-2, was marred by an incident in which Pedro Neto (the 26-year-old Chelsea winger) pushed a ball boy he deemed too slow. The referee did not issue a card, but UEFA has decided to open an investigation, as reported by RMC Sport.
UEFA announced in a statement that it has opened proceedings against Pedro Neto regarding the incident with the ball boy. According to UEFA regulations, for “unsporting conduct” he risks a suspension of “one match or more.”
It was quite surprising that the referee didn’t issue a sanction immediately, as is sometimes the case for certain fouls, but this situation will be reviewed by UEFA, and Neto therefore risks being suspended, possibly as early as the second leg. The Portuguese player apologized to the media, but this may not be enough after such a very poor action. We will have to wait to see the outcome of the proceedings.
