Former Super Eagles and West Bromwich Albion defender, Ifeanyi Udeze, has weighed in on João Neves’ red card incident against Chelsea at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final, Soccernet.ng reports.
Le Parisien were stunned in the first half by Enzo Maresca’s side as goals from Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro saw the Blues go three goals up in the initially forty-five minutes.
Neves has enjoyed a very successful season with PSG, winning the treble and then the UEFA Nations League with Portugal, but the 20-year-old cut a frustrated figure at the MetLife Stadium yesterday.
In the 84th minute, the Portuguese midfielder pulled Marc Cucurella’s hair after the Spanish defender bumped into Neves.
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PSG’s Joao Neves is shown a red card for pulling the hair of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella during the Club World Cup final. pic.twitter.com/XUSElSIspa
— Pop Base (@PopBase) July 13, 2025
The referee, Alireza Faghani, initially gave the former Benfica a yellow card, but upon further checks with the VAR, rescinded his decision and gave Neves a straight red card for violent misconduct.
Udeze, on punditry duties with Sporty TV, mentioned Cucurella isn’t innocent in the act as he should’ve gotten a yellow card for bumping into a player who was without the ball.
However, the former PAOK man urged Neves to keep a calm head next time, as he understands the frustration of losing a game of huge magnitude.
“I do agree Cucurella deserves a yellow card, but the truth is you don’t retaliate that way, not in that manner.
“If you do so, then for sure, the referee would get angry. The referee is in charge of the game, so you don’t retaliate.
“Whatever happens, you don’t take on revenge for yourself.”
“When you’re three goals down in a final like this, for sure, you’ll get angry, and whatever happens you want to retaliate, you want to show your anger, but sometimes you need to keep your cool.
“You don’t need to do that. You’re a role model to a lot of people, to many players, so you must try as much as you can to remain calm,” the former Super Eagles star concluded.
Despite his head loss, Neves had a brilliant 2024/2025 campaign with Paris Saint-Germain, scoring seven goals and providing 10 assists in 59 games for the Ligue 1 Champions.