Neymar fined €6,000 for insulting referee on Twitter

Category: Football

Publish Date: 11-30-2011 02:51 PM -0500

It seems that Joey Barton isn't the only professional footballer who has ruffled feathers with his Twitter account.

After Santos were defeated by relegation-bound Vitória last season, 19-year-old-superstar-in-the-making Neymar — pictured above teaching an opponent to do a hand stand during a game — tweeted his disgust with the referee's performance. Using his old account (he recently set up a new one for no apparent reason) the young Brazilian asserted that Santos are "are always harmed by referees", and called ref Sandro Meira Ricci a "thief" for awarding a penalty against his side. (Presumably the other three goals Santos conceded in the 4-2 loss were the direct fault of the referee too.)

Neymar, whose name means "bad mohawk" in English, quickly removed the controversial Tweet, but it was damaging enough for the official to seek compensation. Despite claiming that a "friend" posted the comments without his knowledge, the Chelsea/Real Madrid/Manchester City/[insert European club name here] target has been ordered by a Brazilian court to stump up some compensation cash. Goal.com confirms:

Santos star Neymar has been ordered to pay €6,000 in compensation to referee Sandro Meira Ricci after insulting the 37-year-old on Twitter.

Since extending his contract with Santos, he's earning around $11m a year. Seeing as this legal trouble will dent his annual earnings to the tune of around 0.07%, it's safe to say his penchant for shiny earrings won't be affected.

Image: Reuters

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