At the Vélodrome stadium,
“It’s red!” He steps on him. He could break his foot. We are too nice, we get fooled and we say nothing! “. Big anger from Jordan Veretout in the corridors of the Vélodrome stadium after Olympique de Marseille’s draw against Brighton (2-2), Thursday evening for their second Europa League group match.
Beyond the result, it was especially for Tariq Lamptey’s huge foul on Amine Harit at the start of the second period (52nd) that Jordan Veretout and the Marseillais got angry. The Moroccan had just caught a Brighton defender with a magnificent hook, when the full-back came violently to mow him down. So of course, he takes the ball first, but his excess of commitment causes his sole to violently hit the ankle of the midfielder, already the victim of a ruptured cruciate ligament last season. And when we saw him writhing in pain like against Monaco, we thought the worst.
“He tears off his ankle behind”
Even more so during these long minutes during which we had time to rewatch the rather clear images several times: Tariq Lamptey deserves red, and Harit can consider himself lucky to get away “only” with a nice bloodstain on his face. sock. Without us understanding why, at no time did the VAR intervene.
“What do you want me to tell you, I share your feeling. Especially since we conceded the goal following that. I asked him to protect the players, he tells me he touches the ball but it tears his ankle behind. We’re not looking for excuses, but it’s annoying,” lamented Valentin Rongier in the mixed zone.
“It was an error by the VAR, not the referee”
If Harit did not want to add a layer on his social networks, contenting himself with mentioning “certain facts of the game”, and of course the “frustration” of the draw, his trainer Gennaro Gattuso clearly pointed out the culprit: “I doesn’t like to talk about referees, it’s a difficult job. But I just want to know what they were doing at VAR. They saw the tackle on Harit, there was blood. It’s an error by the VAR, not the referee.”
An “error” which ultimately cost OM two goals and two points since Tariq Lamptey was involved in reducing the gap less than 4 minutes later by shifting Mitoma to the left side (56th). And even more on the equalizer, since he provokes the penalty at the very end of the match (88th) after a foul by Clauss, warned for the occasion. Which Lamptey will not even have been.