Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc agrees that the decision taken by the club to banish Serge Aurier to the reserves for the next three weeks was the right one.
“It is a difficult case made more difficult because of the law. The decision taken is the best adapted to the situation,” said Blanc at a press conference on Saturday.
“Everybody had to be consulted. It is a matter that concerns the club and so the club had to make the decision. I agree with it.”
PSG announced Aurier’s punishment on Friday, confirming that the 23-year-old Ivory Coast international defender would train for the next three weeks with the reserves, who play in France’s amateur fourth tier.
The club said the decision was made to “protect the group from any potential problems” after Aurier drew the ire of the French champions following his appearance in a video on the social media site Periscope in which he directed homophobic insults at Blanc and also appeared to insult several team-mates.
Aurier, who joined Paris on an initial loan deal from Toulouse in 2014 before the move was made permanent last summer, will miss PSG’s Champions League last-16 second leg at Chelsea on March 9, only returning to the first team on March 21.
PSG go to Lyon on Sunday looking to extend their unbeaten domestic record which goes back to March last year.
They are 24 points clear of Monaco at the top of Ligue 1 and could secure a fourth consecutive title as early as next weekend.
However, influential duo Marco Verratti and Angel Di Maria will miss the trip to Lyon’s new stadium having failed to recover sufficiently from groin and hamstring problems respectively. – Agence France-Presse
