Werder Bremen's Djilobodji faces probe for cut-throat gesture

Berlin (AFP) – Werder Bremen defender Papy Djilobodji is being investigated by state prosecutors for making a throat-slitting gesture during a Bundesliga game in March.

The Senegal international was banned for two games and fined 15,000 euros ($16,757) by the German FA for unsportsmanlike conduct after pulling his index finger across his throat in the direction of Mainz winger Pablo de Blasis during a league game.

He has already apologised to De Blasis for making the gesture.

But just three days before Bremen’s crucial home match against fellow relegation candidates Eintracht Frankfurt, it has emerged the on-loan Chelsea player is being investigated by public prosecutors.

“We’re investigating a Werder player for threatening behaviour,” senior public prosecutor Frank Passade told German daily Bild.

Djilobodji has played 13 of Bremen’s 16 league games in the second half of the season since joining Werder from Stamford Bridge in January.

He has scored one goal and created another, while picking up six yellow cards in Germany’s top flight.

Bremen’s director of sport Thomas Eichin says the club will deal with the legal implications after their final game of the season against Frankfurt on Saturday.

Bremen are 16th in the league table, which would mean a two-legged relegation play-off against the team which finishes third in the second division, while Frankfurt are just a point above them.