Chelsea forward Pedro Neto will be available to play in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Paris Saint-Germain after he escaped a ban for pushing a ballboy.
The Blues were left with a mountain to climb after a chastening evening last Wednesday at the Parc des Princes, as the first leg of their last-16 tie with the holders went sideways in the second half.
Chelsea were beaten 5-2 as they paid the price for naivety and goalkeeping errors, but it was the bizarre incident involving Neto that stole the headlines.
The winger lost his composure while hurrying to get the ball back in play at 4-2 as he shoved the ballboy near the advertising hoardings.
Tempers between the two teams boiled over in the aftermath, and UEFA opened disciplinary proceedings against Neto for what it called “unsporting behaviour”.
However, European football’s governing body has elected just to warn Neto, freeing him up to feature in the return leg at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday as Chelsea aim to pull off a remarkable turnaround.
That news was welcomed by head coach Liam Rosenior.
“He’s a fantastic player, he has apologised for the incident and I think UEFA have made the right decision,” Rosenior said in his pre-match press conference.
Neto available as Chelsea face mammoth task
Neto was quick to express his remorse for his actions when speaking to the media after the defeat in Paris.
“I’m not like this. It was in the heat of the moment and I want to apologise. I gave him my shirt. I’m really sorry about it – I feel I have to apologise to him,” Neto told TNT Sports.
“My French is not very good, and [Portugal team-mate] Vitinha came over and said to him I was not like this.
“At the end he [the ball boy] laughed and I gave him my shirt and said sorry about 35 times. He could see what had happened and was happy with the situation.”
Neto will likely have a role to play as Chelsea seek a historic comeback against PSG. He did not feature in the squad on Saturday as the Blues were beaten 1-0 at home by Newcastle United in the Premier League.
The odds are firmly stacked against Chelsea. Only one team in Champions League history has gone on to eliminate the holders in the knockout stages after losing the first leg by as many as three goals.
It is over 20 years since Deportivo La Coruna achieved that feat in the quarter-finals of the 2003-04 competition, the Spanish side winning 4-0 at the Riazor after losing 4-1 at San Siro.
