Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc has branded Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar a “good actor” after Emre Can was shown a red card for fouling the Brazilian, with head coach Lucien Favre also calling the expulsion “almost ridiculous”.
Dortmund went into the clash at an empty Parc des Princes with a 2-1 aggregate lead from the first leg at Signal Iduna Park, with many believing the presence of young prodigy Erling Haaland at the head of attack would see the Bundesliga side past their Ligue 1 opponents.
It was not to be, however, with Neymar opening the scoring with a fine header after losing his marker in the first half, while Juan Bernat adding a second just before the halfway mark was enough to dump Dortmund out of the Champions League.
One of the main flashpoints of the tie was the dismissal of Can, however, who was given his marching orders after a challenge on Neymar. Dortmund's hierarchy spoke about the incident after the match and were far from happy with the decision.
“I think the red card was too severe,” Zorc told reporters. “Emre stood up to him and we all know that Neymar is a good actor – he showed that today.”
Favre added: “The dismissal was much too severe. Emre Can made only one small mistake and Neymar exaggerated it a little. It's far too severe. Almost ridiculous.”
It cannot be said that PSG were not good money for their win, though, and Zorc was honest in his assessment of a poor showing from his side in the French capital.
He said: “We were far too harmless when going forward and we made it far too easy for Paris with the goals we conceded.
“PSG didn't have to make much of an effort. We didn't do enough on the pitch today, we didn't perform well at all. Too many players were out of form. We barely made an impression on the match. Paris were clearly more confident.”
Dortmund return to action with a headline clash against rivals Schalke on Saturday in the German top tier, while PSG play host to Nice on Sunday as they continue to dominate at the top of Ligue 1.