Liam Rosenior reacts after Neto apologises for incident with the ball boy in Chelsea’s 5-2 defeat to PSG in the Champions League.
The 26-year-old had pushed the ball boy in stoppage time of the last-16 first-leg tie, causing him to fall on to a chair.
That also led to a mass altercation between players of both teams. Neto avoided being booked, though it is unclear whether Neto will face any further punishment by Uefa.
Barcola smashed in an early opener for PSG, before Chelsea levelled with low shot from Gusto. Dembele had PSG back in front before half-time but Fernandez got Chelsea an equaliser.
Late goals from Vitinha and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia saw them well-beaten, with Filip Jorgensen’s errors coming under scrutiny.
š£ļøšļøPedro Neto: I gave him my shirt. I’m really sorry about it, I feel I have to apologise to him. My French is not very good, and (Portugal team-mate) Vitinha came over and said to him I was not like this.ā https://t.co/rIdppGnWD1 pic.twitter.com/F0YQVHpH9k
ā Speedline (@speedlinexx) March 12, 2026
Chelsea’s Pedro Neto, who was involved in a late incident when he pushed a ball boy, said:Ā “I wanted to come out and say about the situation that happened on the pitch, I want to apologise to the ball boy. I have already spoken to him.
“We were losing and in the emotion of the game, I wanted to get the ball fast and I gave him a little push.
“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.
“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.”
“It was the heat of the moment. I want to apologise.”
Pedro Neto reacts to Chelsea’s defeat in Paris and addresses his incident with the ball boy at the end of the match…@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK | @Becky_Ives_ pic.twitter.com/ogp0Slfzj8
ā Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 11, 2026
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior:Ā “A very disappointing result in an evening where for so much of the game I was really happy. The last 15-20 minutes were crazy. We need to be better with setbacks and we need to stay calm and we didn’t.
“It’s a painful scoreline because for 75 minutes we were way in the tie and the game itself
“Players make mistakes, Filip [Jorgensen] is not the first one to make a mistake, that’s part of football. In that moment at 2-2 we were in the ascendancy an inch away from going 3-2 with Joao Pedro scoring after Enzo Fernandez was offside, but in the top level, the Champions League level, it is fine margins.
“The fifth goal was the most painful one after a flashpoint.”
On Pedro Neto pushing a ball boy: “Yeah, I think, honestly, on both occasions, I haven’t seen them back. I saw there was an allocation with the ball boy. But if there was anything from our side that was wrong or out of order, I apologise on behalf of the club. But I think Pedro has done in interviews. I genuinely haven’t seen it back. Yeah, we’ve spoken a lot about this aspect, discipline, staying calm in the moment. It’s on me to find the answer because what we won’t speak about now, rightly so, was so much good in our play. It doesn’t matter because we’re here to win. We’ve made this tie, we’ve kind of shot ourselves in the foot and made this tie very, very difficult but not impossible to come back from.
”I saw there was an altercation. If there was anything from our side, I apologise on behalf of the club”
Liam Rosenior reacts to an incident involving Pedro Neto and a ball kid as Neto also apologises following Chelsea’s defeat to PSG in the Champions League šµ pic.twitter.com/C4xo1ftb9w
ā Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) March 12, 2026
He added in his press conference: “Yeah, I think, honestly, on both occasions, I haven’t seen them back. I saw there was an allocation with the ball boy.
“But if there was anything from our side that was wrong or out of order, I apologise on behalf of the club.
“But I think Pedro has done in interviews. I genuinely haven’t seen it back.
“Yeah, we’ve spoken a lot about this aspect, discipline, staying calm in the moment. It’s on me to find the answer because what we won’t speak about now, rightly so, was so much good in our play.
“It doesn’t matter because we’re here to win. We’ve made this tie, we’ve kind of shot ourselves in the foot and made this tie very, very difficult but not impossible to come back from.”
Here’s what social media users are saying as Liam Rosenior reacts after Neto apologises for an incident with ball boy in Chelsea’s 5-2 defeat to PSG…
@SamFonsecaa: You offered him your shirt? Hadnāt the ball boy suffered enough?
@spaulinnit: Clubs should be sanctioned if anyone assigned by them to do this role attempts to delay the restart. It should be in the referees report. It was probably a yellow card to the player but ball boys/ clubs being beyond reproach for delaying the restart is just wrong.
@poynej62: To ensure that this incident is discussed in its totality, surely you should also refer to Enrique gesturing to the all boy to retain the ball?Should his actions be punished?
@AndrewClement6: The ball boy should give him the ball. That is his job, as Roy Keane would say
@MiniVinny83: Thereās a wider problem here with ball boys not throwing the ball back when their team is winning. Obviously as a player you canāt push the kid overā¦.. but why is trying to hide the ball?
@tony_esparza91: Ball boys job is to give the ball to the player regardless of team. Neto asks for the ball, the ball boy refuses. Neto’s reaction is wrong and the ball boy shouldn’t be anywhere near the pitch again
@chris_windsor: No. It was nothing. Why no questioning of the ball boyās behaviour? Didnāt release the ball, slight push and he rolls around as if mortally wounded. Pathetic
@Funwithflares: That ball boy rolling over as if he’s just been shot after being pushed by Neto is hilarious š Sums up Chelsea’s lack of discipline. Credit to Neto for apologising though.
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