The Professional Football League has this time put away its yellow cards to release a red against Frédéric Antonetti. The Metz coach will indeed be suspended for seven games after his altercation with Lille leaders on Friday in Ligue 1.
The LFP Disciplinary Committee, meeting on Wednesday, also added three suspended suspended games for the technician, who will miss several crucial meetings for the maintenance. He will only return to the Messin bench for the last six games of the Championship season, from April 20.
Létang and Armand also sanctioned
Involved, the Lille leaders Olivier Létang and Sylvain Armand were also sanctioned. The first is suspended for two games “from the sidelines, from the referees’ locker room and from all official functions” by revocation of the reprieve. The second receives a four-game suspension, including two by revocation of the suspended sentence.
Frédéric Antonetti was expelled on Friday before the end of the L1 match against Lille (1-1), after a very heated altercation with the northern sports coordinator Sylvain Armand on the edge of the field, whom he accused of having come near his technical area to complain to the fourth referee. “When someone attacks me, I respond. I don’t let myself get carried away on the ground”, he explained hotly, before acknowledging the next day that he had gone “a little too far”.
This is already the third sanction received by the Messin coach this season. He had notably received two suspension matches, one of which was suspended after taking the referee to task during PSG-Metz (2-1) in September. This suspended match had already fallen in January because of his attitude during the Lyon-Metz post-match.
Metz, at the bottom of the ranking
At the beginning of the week, FC Metz, which is fighting to stay in Ligue 1, with a current 19th place and only two points taken in four games, had come to the aid of its coach, explaining that the latter had responded “to the lack of respect and pressure attempts” by Sylvain Armand, “which could have had an impact on the outcome of the match”. Antonetti had also received the support of the coaches’ union, Unecatef, in a very offensive press release denouncing “provocateurs who came to excite” a “caged lion” and also asking for sanctions against Lille leaders.