Neymar Jr. attacks referee over yellow card

Paris Saint-Germain completed a convincing 3-1 victory over Israeli side Maccabi Haifa in their UEFA Champions League group stage clash on Wednesday. Neymar Jr. scored a late 88th minute goal for the Ligue 1 giants, and was left frustrated after the referee handed him a yellow card for his trademark celebration.

PSG came from a goal down to register a dominant victory thanks to goals form Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and finally, Neymar. After finding the back of the net, the Brazil international did his familiar celebratory gesture of putting his hands against his ears and fluttering his fingers with his tongue out.

German referee Daniel Siebert saw the celebration as an offensive gesture aimed at either the home crowd or the opponents, thus handing the player a yellow card. Neymar was in utter disbelief and confronted the referee after receiving the caution. A number of PSG players joined the protest even as Neymar was being restrained.

Following the match, the PSG forward did not let the incident go. He took to social media to attack the referee and accuse him of disrespect. "The yellow card was a total lack of respect for the player," he stated on Twitter.

"This kind of thing can't happen. I got a yellow card for not having done anything. They keep wronging me," he continued, before adding the hashtag "free the celebration."

It remains to be seen if UEFA will choose to intervene. Neymar has been using the same gesture to celebrate his goals for a number of years, but it is certainly up for debate whether or not it could be seen as a provocative gesture.

Nevertheless, PSG's attacking trident was at it again on Wednesday, with all three contributing goals to help the club top Group H. They are tied with Benfica on six points, and everyone knows that PSG are on a mission not only to finish the group stage on top, but to go all the way and finally lift the elusive trophy.

Neymar will surely want to score more goals along the way, and he will want to clarify if his celebration will land him in hot water each time.