Paris Saint-Germain suspend Serge Aurier over homophobic comments
French club Paris Saint-German (PSG) have announced that the Ivorian full-back Serge Aurier has been suspended indefinitely after a video emerged in which he is seen making homophobic comments against the club's coach.
Aurier is set to be disciplined by the French champions after taking part in a live Periscope session on Saturday night (13 February) during which he made homophobic comments towards Laurent Blanc and insulted several teammates, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Salvatore Sirigu.
"This video, filmed in a private setting, contains comments that are clearly unacceptable coming from a PSG player, towards certain teammates and in particular towards the manager Laurent Blanc," a club statement said.
Aurier was initially was told not to attend training as scheduled on Sunday, with PSG later announcing that they had provisionally suspended the player, pending a further investigation.
"PSG wishes to express its fullest support to coach Blanc and to the players who have rightly felt offended by Aurier’s remarks", chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi said in the same statement.
As a result of his suspension, Aurier will miss the Champions League round of 16 first-leg clash with Chelsea on Tuesday.
In an interview with the club's television channel, Aurier said he will "accept the sanctions PSG impose and face the consequences" of his actions.
“I want to apologise especially to the coach, I can only thank him for all he has done for me since I arrived in Paris," Aurier said. "He wanted me and since I came here everything has gone really well. I owe him a lot and that is why I apologise sincerely to him for what was said, which I deeply regret.
“I will accept any sanction the club impose on me regarding this incident. I made a mistake, it was unforgivable and I am ready to face all the consequences.”
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