Thiago Silva Accuses Dimitri Payet of Deliberately Trying to Injure Neymar in Marseille Clash

Paris Saint-Germain defender Thiago Silva has accused Marseille's Dimitri Payet of deliberately trying to injure compatriot and team-mate Neymar in Sunday's Ligue 1 clash. 

PSG beat their arch rivals 3-0 at the Parc des Princes to stretch their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to 14 points. The victory was marred, however, when star player Neymar had to be stretchered off in the 80th minute after he fell awkwardly on his ankle trying to tackle Bouna Sarr. 

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Following the final whistle, Silva told Canal+ (via the Daily Mail): "We lost a very important player before the end in Neymar and his ankle had already started to swell. I'm not a doctor but I don't think he'll be ready for Wednesday [French Cup quarter-final against Marseille]."

The Brazilian international centre-back, who returned to the starting lineup for Sunday's game, has since claimed that he overheard Marseille's captain and former West Ham midfielder Payet tell the referee that he wanted to hurt the former Barcelona player. 

“It's a shame. Payet said to the referee that he wanted to hurt. That is not football,” Silva is quoted as saying by the Sun. 

Neymar was fouled a total of eight times before he was taken off due to injury, but Marseilles left-back Jordan Armavi has hit back at Silva's claims and instead accused Neymar of playing for fouls. 

“We play normally but he looks for the foul," the former Aston Villa defender insisted. 

"That is what I see on the pitch – he waits for us to close him down and he lets the ball go at the last moment.

"So what does he expect? I think he looks for a bit. Everyone knows he has talent but he throws himself a bit easily."