Brazilian footballer denies he was sold by Lyon for farting too much

Brazilian footballer Marcelo has been forced to deny that he was sold by former club Olympique Lyonnais because he farted too often in front of team-mates.

The 34-year-old spent five years with the Ligue 1 club after signing from Besiktas in 2017, before being moved on to relegation-threatened Girondins de Bordeaux in January of this year.

French sports newspaper l’Équipe reports that one of the predominant reasons for the player’s transfer was his propensity to break wind around his team-mates, including during motivational team talks given by captain and French international Léo Dubois. The paper adds that Marcelo’s behaviour was generally considered unprofessional, and his laughter during serious tactical discussions irritated those around him.

Now the player has posted on social media for the first time in a year in order to refute the allegations.

‘Thanks to l’Équipe, after a long time, I have to come back to Twitter to deny all the allegations,’ he wrote on the social network. ‘Journalism nowadays is a joke!’

The former PSV player was demoted to the Lyon reserve team in August 2021, six months prior to being sold, after scoring an own goal in a defeat to Angers and allegedly farting in the dressing room afterwards. He did not play for the first-team again.

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In December 2019, a Lyon fan incensed by Marcelo’s performances entered the field of play at the club’s Groupama Stadium and unfurled a banner depicting the defender as a donkey, with the words ‘GET LOST’ emblazoned alongside it.

Marcelo