Frustrated Chelsea star fronts up after 'hurting' ball boy in crushing Champions League loss to PSG

Chelsea's Pedro Neto escaped sanction when he clashed with a ball boy late in the Blues' 5-2 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

Down 4-2 in added time, the ball bounced out of play and Neto attempted to retrieve a fresh one off a ball boy.

But the ball boy was slow in handing the ball over to Neto.

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The player took issue and in trying to get the ball, instead pushed over the ball boy, who stayed down in apparent pain.

The winger's actions created a scuffle on the touchline as both sets of players took issue with each other.

The incident was reviewed by VAR, but they decided not to intervene.

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"He's pushed him but he's pushed him because the ball boy isn't going to give him the ball and goes to throw the ball away," former England manager Glenn Hoddle said.

"To defend the player, it's the last minute of the game. He wants to get on with the game and the lad is trying to throw the ball away from him. He just gives him a nudge."

Neto apologised to the ball boy after the incident.

"I want to come out to say that the situation that happened on the pitch, I went to apologise to the ball boy already and spoke with him," he said.

"The emotions of the game, we were losing and I wanted to pick up the ball. He was carrying the ball with him, I gave him a little push in the heat of the moment and I saw that I hurt him.

"I'm not like this so straight away I went there to apologise and I gave him my shirt as well because that cannot happen so I'm really sorry about that. And I just wanted to say one more time I'm really sorry for him.''

When pressed further, Neto added: "I have to apologise to him. In the heat of the moment, how football is, you have a lot of emotions.

"I wanted to get the ball first, I gave him a push and I went to say sorry to him straight away and then we spoke at the end.

"He even laughed because I gave him the shirt and I said sorry like 35 times so I'm really sorry about the situation.

"He knew what happened as well so he was happy as well with the situation. He knew in the heat of the moment, Vitinha said to him too that I'm not like that and the only thing that matters was that I was worried about him. So I'm really sorry about the situation."

Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior wanted to rewatch the incident before making a full judgment.

"I saw there was an altercation with the ball boy," Rosenior said.

"But if there was anything from our side that was wrong or out of order, I apologise on behalf of the club But I think Pedro has done in interviews. I genuinely haven't seen it back... we've spoken a lot about this aspect, discipline, staying calm in the moment."

Former Chelsea star Joe Cole said Neto had handled the situation well after making a mistake.

"Heat of the moment, passions riding high, he's just nudged a kid," Cole said.

"And he's done the right thing, he's come over. He's said sorry, he kid's accepted it and we move on. Hopefully, he seems alright. This place was rocking and rolling when that happened. Fair play to him for apologising."

Ex-England star Owen Hargreaves agreed.

"He isn't that type of player, Pedro Neto. Credit to him for coming out and apologising, giving the young man his top," he said on Stan Sport's coverage.

"Heat of the moment, tensions, but I thought they dealt with that the right way."

In other round of 16 first leg games on Thursday (AEDT), Real Madrid hammered Manchester City 3-0, Bodo/Glimt beat Sporting Lisbon by the same scoreline and Arsenal struck late to secure a 1-1 away draw with Bayer Leverkusen.