Following protests by fans unhappy with the club’s recent results, Paris Saint-Germain has increased security at the club’s training facility and the homes of Lionel Messi and Neymar.
On Wednesday night, hundreds of PSG fans gathered outside the club’s headquarters, where they lit smoke flares and sang angrily about the team’s underachieving stars, including Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Italian midfielder Marco Verratti.
Others went to Neymar’s house in a posh Paris suburb west of the city and chanted, “Neymar, get lost” as they marched through the neighbourhood.
“Paris Saint-Germain condemns in the strongest possible terms the unacceptable and insulting actions of a small group of individuals,” a club statement said on Wednesday evening.
“Whatever the differences of opinion, nothing justifies such behaviour.”
Neymar, who has been injured at PSG and will miss the rest of the season, responded on Instagram: “Don’t allow others put you in their maelstrom. Leave them alone.
According to AFP, two unnamed sources stated that the club opted to increase security at its training field and outside the residences of the players who had been singled out during the protests.
One of the sources added that some of the fans had said that “they wanted to do the same thing every evening.”
According to the same source, the demonstrators dispersed “calmly, several minutes after their arrival,” with no reported incidents involving police.
After being suspended for two weeks on Wednesday, Messi’s future at PSG seemed bleak. He had gone to Saudi Arabia to execute a marketing job without the club’s consent.
