Paris Saint-Germain’s Dani Alves has denied keeping the ball away from Edinson Cavani, so he could give it to Neymar to take a free-kick.
Alves insists that he planned to take the set-piece himself.
The incident was one of two flash-points during PSG’s 2-0 win over Lyon on Sunday. In addition to the free-kick, Neymar and Cavani argued over who would take a penalty, before the Uruguay striker won the battle, only to see his spot-kick saved.
But the free-kick incident, in which Alves looked to be siding with his good mate and Brazilian compatriot, was not quite what it seemed.
“I was going to take it,” Alves told Brazilian television, SporTV.
“I took the ball to take the free-kick, because I already scored some goals and I was confident of a repeat.”
He added: “I think the individual is the least important thing – in the end the team is above any individual.”
Comments