After the defeat of his family against FC Nantes (3-1), Leonardo, the sports director of PSG was very upset against arbitration. An arbitration that he considered “without control” on the part of Mr. Lesage, accusing him of not having protected his players and of having wanted to whistle “against” the Parisian club. “We knew we were the team to beat, and maybe a little more. The referee knows that, it’s difficult, I don’t want to judge, he’s a person, but from the start it’s been a completely strong match, ”said Leonardo at the microphone of Canal +. “You are looking to control the match and protect the balance of a match (…) The match was no longer controlled, for us as for Nantes, it was completely out of control”, he accused, citing several supporting game facts.
The Brazilian leader, for example, complained of a tackle from behind by Nicolas Pallois on Kylian Mbappé, who remained on the ground for a long time, hit in an ankle before resuming play, without the referee whistling the foul. “You risk having players three months out on injury, like Kylian,” he accused. PSG, quickly led 3-1 at La Beaujoire despite their reconstituted attacking trio Messi-Mbappé-Neymar, conceded their second defeat of the season in Ligue 1, after that of Rennes (2-0) in November.
“Look, I’m whistling at you”
Leonardo also criticized, pell-mell, the penalty whistled against Paris after four minutes of additional time in the first period, when the fourth referee had announced only one minute, and numerous muscular interventions from the Nantes residents not sanctioned.
“I don’t want to be there to cry, we lost, it’s deserved, but against us there is the urge to say: Look, I’m whistling against you. There were several faults, Neymar, Mbappé, Messi, Verratti, and It’s nothing, play. That, a little, it bothers, “he cursed. “We have to know how to control that, we lost control of the game. Hats off to Nantes, (Antoine) Kombouaré, I’m happy for him, but on the management of the match, the feeling is: I’m whistling against you, and honestly it annoys, ”concluded Leonardo.