Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery was probably provoked before slapping Real Madrid’s Daniel Carjaval in their Champions League semi-final second leg, French federation president Noel Le Graet said yesterday.

“It’s a bad reflex. I know he’s a bit nervous these days,” Le Graet told French radio RTL.

Ribery slapped Carjaval around the face on Tuesday as Bayern suffered a 4-0 home defeat to Real Madrid.

“I know Franck well, it’s not the kind of gesture he makes naturally,” Le Graet said. “There were probably little niggles before that.”

Ribery has been below par this year after losing the 2013 FIFA Ballon d’Or award to Cristiano Ronaldo despite winning the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup with Bayern last season.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.