Thomas Tuchel Defends Neymar Following 'Go F--k Yourselves' Comment

Paris Saint-Germain manager Thomas Tuchel has defended Neymar for his reaction to Wednesday's UEFA Champions League defeat to Manchester United, which he signed off with: "Go f--k yourselves."  

United advanced to the quarter-finals after winning 3-1 at the Parc des Princes to seal a 3-3 aggregate draw and qualify on away goals. Marcus Rashford converted an injury-time penalty after the video assistant referee adjudged Presnel Kimpembe to have blocked Diogo Dalot's shot with his arm in the box.

Neymar reacted via his Instagram story (h/t Goal) and said: "That is a disgrace! And UEFA still pick four guys who know nothing about football to review the VAR decision in slow motion...that handball simply doesn't exist! How do you handball behind your back? Ahh...go f--k yourselves."

Tuchel spoke to the media after the game and sympathised with his star, who made his way down from the stands in the dying minutes to be with his team-mates on the touchline, via Goal:

The German told reporters: 

"Sometimes when you remember yourself in a big, big fight and you remember being very emotional you use words and you react in a way that you take back some hours later.

"You see how emotional he is and how he lives with us and how badly he wanted to help us and Ney, coming back—latest in the quarter-finals—and coming today and biting his nails for every game we play without him. So don't be too harsh on him.

"It's, like I said, hard to accept for all of us who could not play and could do nothing.

"I would not over-interpret the use of his words in the heat of the challenge and the moment of the decision. It's quickly typed into a smartphone."

Neymar—who has 112 million followers on Instagram—hasn't featured for his club since January 23 when he was forced off in a Coupe de France clash against Strasbourg due to a metatarsal injury.

Romelu Lukaku scored United's first two goals in Paris—the Belgian now has six in his last three games—while left-back Juan Bernat gave PSG their third goal of the two-legged affair.

The Parc des Princes was stunned into silence, however, after referee Damir Skomina awarded the decisive spot-kick following a VAR intervention in injury time (U.S. only):

Neymar's reaction on social media was not as calm as that of his manager, who told RMC Sport (h/t MailOnline's Jeorge Bird) the result was "totally ridiculous" but that he still supported the use of VAR in general.

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi appeared incredulous as to how his club had fallen out of the Champions League round of 16 for a third season running:

PSG are set to face Nantes next month in the Coupe de France semi-finals and have the Ligue 1 title almost wrapped up, but Neymar will be disappointed not to get the chance to push them on in the Champions League.