"PSG had been cuckolded for a long time already" - Daniel Riolo accuses PSG of being biased towards Neymar after Lionel Messi ban
French journalist Daniel Riolo is pleased PSG have punished Lionel Messi for a disciplinary breach and hopes the club will take the same approach against the likes of Neymar.
Messi grabbed headlines after traveling to Saudi Arabia just a day after Paris Saint-Germain's Ligue 1 defeat against Lorient on Sunday (30 April). Players were required to report to training on Monday (1 May), but the Argentinian went AWOL.
Les Parisiens have reportedly decided to take action against the forward by suspending him for two weeks. Messi will be barred from using the club's training facilities and will also not be paid during the duration of the sanction.
Messi's unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia was the straw that broke the camel's back. According to reliable journalist Loic Tanzi, the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner will leave PSG when his contract expires in the summer.
Riolo has now said that everything about Messi's stint with the Parisians has been disastrous. The journalist, though, is pleased to see the club take no prisoners in dealing with the situation involving the 35-year-old. He hopes to see the Ligue 1 giants take a similar approach when dealing with regular culprits like Neymar moving forward.
"Everything is ridiculous in the Messi affair," Riolo wrote on Twitter. "From his arrival to his departure, everything was badly done and at the time of the obvious divorce, we take sanction. Yet PSG had been cuckolded for a long time already. We, therefore, expect the same force on Neymar and the others who have not respected anything for x time."
Neymar has often been the subject of criticism for his conduct at PSG. He was blasted by fans and pundits after he was seen participating in a Poker tournament hours after the team's UEFA Champions League loss to Bayern Munich in February.
How has Lionel Messi and Neymar fared for PSG this season?
Lionel Messi and Neymar were in red-hot form for PSG in the first half of the 2022-23 season. The former bagged seven goals and 10 assists from 13 Ligue 1 games before the 2022 FIFA World Cup break, while the latter scored 11 times and provided nine assists.
The Brazilian, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury, has contributed towards only four goals in Ligue 1 since returning from the World Cup. Lionel Messi, meanwhile, has bagged eight goals and five assists in the league but has struggled to make an impact in bigger games, including the Champions League.