Marseille have given striker Brandao permission to have a break in his native Brazil after being accused of rape.
Marseille give striker permission to head home after rape claims
Marseille have given striker Brandao permission to have a break in his native Brazil after being accused of rape.
The 30-year-old was put under investigation on Wednesday and released on bail, although his passport has not been confiscated.
And coach Didier Deschamps has agreed to let the former Shakhtar Donetsk striker have a brief trip home.
"He asked if he could go and rest in Brazil with his family for a week which I accepted in agreement with Deschamps," club president Jean-Claude Dassier told Marseille's
official website.
"We will meet on his return and discuss his future at the club."
A 23-year-old woman alleged that Brandao raped her at a motorway rest area after offering to drive her home from a night club in Aix-en-Provence.
"He admits to sexual intercourse with this woman but not in the conditions she describes," his lawyer, Patricia Clusan, said on Wednesday.
"To him this intercourse was nothing abnormal because she agreed to it."
While Dassier did not comment on the investigation, he admitted he was disappointed by Brandao's lack of professionalism.
Shock
"What shocks me especially is that it was five or six o'clock in the morning of March 2, four days before Lille v Marseille, and it was also a training day," he added.
"The evidence seems to confirm that he was not in a normal state and was strongly influenced by alcohol.
"It's not acceptable. It is not the behaviour of a professional a few days before an important match."
The defending champions went on to suffer a 2-1 home defeat to Ligue 1 leaders Lille and Marseille will hand Brandao a fine or suspension while they are also considering selling the striker, who signed from Ukrainian side Shakhtar in January 2009.
"He is not psychologically fit to play football at the moment, he has suffered a shock," said Dassier.
"I know that in Russia you can still do transfers but it seems unlikely to me. We do not do things in a hurry."
