Neymar claims accusation he raped woman in hotel is a ‘set-up’
NEYMAR, the Brazilian footballer, and most expensive player in the world, has denied an accusation that he raped a woman at a hotel in Paris last month, claiming that he is the victim of an extortion attempt.
An unidentified woman told Brazilian police that the Paris Saint-germain forward, who is the world’s most expensive player, drunkenly assaulted her after they met through Instagram.
Neymar, 27, responded by posting a seven-minute video on Instagram, in which he showed what he said was an exchange of Whatsapp messages with the woman, including topless photographs of her in bed. “These are intimate moments but it is necessary to make them public to prove that nothing really happened,” he said.
“What happened that day was a relationship between a man and a woman, inside four walls, something that happens with any couple.”
He added: “It was a set-up and I was caught out… It’s very sad to believe the world is like that, that there are people who want to take advantage, want to extort other people.”
The woman, who lives in Brazil, told São Paulo police that he drunkenly assaulted her at a hotel near the Champselysées. She returned home to Brazil two days after the alleged rape without reporting it to French police because she was “emotionally shaken and afraid to register the facts in another country”, according to a Brazilian police report seen by Reuters news agency. She lodged a complaint with police in São Paulo on Friday.
After meeting through Instagram, Neymar allegedly invited her to visit him in Paris, according to the police report, seen by Reuters.
She claimed that the footballer’s assistant sent her plane tickets. She said she checked into the Hôtel Sofitel Paris Arc de Triomphe on May 15.
He arrived that night, “apparently intoxicated”, and the two chatted and exchanged “caresses”.
“However, at some point, Neymar became aggressive, and through violence, practised sexual intercourse against the will of the victim,” according to the police report.
The Sofitel hotel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Neymar Santos, the footballer’s father, who is also his agent, said his son went on a date with the woman but did not want to see her again and she subsequently tried to extort money from him. “My son can be accused of many things, but I know what kind of man he is. It’s clear that this was a trap,” he said in a local television interview.
Neymar’s representatives accused a São Paulo lawyer of attempting to extort money from the footballer.
Attempts to trace the lawyer were unsuccessful.
“All evidence of attempted extortion and non-rape shall be submitted to police in a timely manner,” the footballer’s representatives said.
In 2017, Paris Saint-germain paid Barcelona €222 million (£196 million) for Neymar.