Wednesday 4 July 2018 12:05, UK
Mexico's Miguel Layun has condemned the abuse his family has received over social media following his tangle with Brazil star Neymar.
Neymar was accused of "acting" by the Mexico head coach Juan Carlos Osorio after reacting strongly to a seemingly accidental step on his foot by Layun, as Brazil reached the World Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 win on Monday.
Porto defender Layun received a torrent of abuse from Brazilians online, including from some well-known social media 'influencers' in the country, and he claims some even made threats towards him and his family.
He responded in an Instagram story: "To all Brazilians, I have no interest in entering into a debate which, in my opinion, is pointless, firstly because football is played out on the pitch, and secondly because you've all got the sense to understand the first point.
"If anyone has a problem with what happened during the game (even after having referred to the VAR, the referee said to me that he could see that the stamp wasn't intentional, otherwise he would have shown me a red card).
"I haven't got any problem if you want to send messages to my account, even ones in which you threaten me, I understand that this is all part of the game. But please treat my family with respect, I won't accept anything less. Thank you."
Neymar defender his actions after the game, which set up a quarter-final clash with Belgium on Friday, stating: "It's complicated. It's not something I can control.
"I got stepped on unfairly. I think it was off the ball, outside the game. I don't think it should be done. But that's the thing, they talked too much before the game - and now they're going home."
