At OL Park,
When Lucas Paqueta stole a hot ball from Leo Jardim, before equalizing in the empty Lille goal (86th), Clément Turpin rushed towards the Losc defenders, sure of himself, waving his finger to assure them that there was not the slightest fault from the Brazilian playmaker. Archi-dominant, OL could then legitimately dream of a finish of madness to win this game which looks like a turning point in the race for Europe.
Except that two minutes later, Clément Turpin reconsidered his decision to cancel Paqueta’s goal, after being asked by his assistant in charge of VAR to watch the replays of this astonishing game situation. Despite five minutes of additional time , the Lyonnais have again lost against Losc (0-1), and they find themselves 10th in Ligue 1, eight points from the podium. This controversial arbitration reversal, which follows a train of other controversies for ten days (Losc-FC Metz, FC Nantes-PSG, RC Strasbourg-OGC Nice, etc.) raises four major questions.
Why did the VAR want to judge Clément Turpin’s initial decision?
The first mystery of the 86th minute is there: how this goal initially validated by Clément Turpin, in live and at real speed, could it be placed in the category of “clear and obvious errors”? Namely the only one supposed to lead to a verification of the images via the VAR. Even the most fervent supporters of Lille, or even Saint-Etienne and Marseille, would not consider the cancellation of this goal as indisputable. As for OL coach Peter Bosz, he was boiling like rarely in the post-match conference.
That’s a scandal. I thought the referee was going to look if there was perhaps a foul at the start on Renato Sanches, who was on the ground. But there, they watched the shot from the goalkeeper, who really kicked the ground with his foot. Then his leg hit Lucas. It’s clear to everyone except the referee. When you don’t see that, it’s really amazing. »
Finally, did Lucas Paqueta (a little) make a mistake?
The interested party himself (ironically) used this qualifier “incredible” on his social networks, Sunday evening, by sharing the video of this ghost goal. Live, we could think that driven by his desire to press like a madman, like his crazy tackle on Celik in the first period, he had been able to let himself be carried away by his passion to crash into Leo Jardim.
The replays prove the opposite: he just stretched his leg to try to counter an approximate raise from his compatriot. It was the 26-year-old who finally impaled himself on Paqueta after completely missing his right control-long left clearance sequence.
Is there a dispute between OL and Clément Turpin?
Last season, Rudi Garcia’s OL had a fix on the arbitration of Stéphanie Frappart. The latter had refused the winning goal to Houssem Aouar for a mysterious high foot on Mandanda during the clash against OM (1-1), while Karl Toko Ekambi had also celebrated a goal before becoming disillusioned, due to of a contentious passive offside whistled against Aouar against Metz (0-1). Then there was a volcanic OL-AS Monaco (0-2) in the Coupe de France that she had all the trouble in the world to contain (8 yellow cards in total).
In September, Stéphanie Frappart hit hard again at Parc OL, forgetting to send off two Trojan players (3-1). But Clément Turpin was much more pointed out by Lyon supporters, even before Sunday evening, because of the very media PSG-OL (2-1) of September 19. That evening, at 0-1, Malo Gusto had been trapped by Neymar, author of a fault and yet beneficiary of the improbable penalty of the equalizer, which had not then been checked with the VAR. “Everyone says he’s the best referee in France, but he’s not the best referee for Lyon,” said Peter Bosz with a forced smile on Sunday.
Its president unsurprisingly went there in the wake of a tweet to demand “explanations” from the boss of French arbitration, Pascal Garibian. Before that, if he preferred not to venture officially against the microphones in the mixed zone, Jean-Michel Aulas also briefly denounced “a scandal”. A term mitigated by the players, Houssem Aouar and Malo Gusto evoking more “a disillusion” with this cruel setback. “We are not going to say that it is a scandal, cuts Tanguy Ndombele. It’s a decision of the referee that I don’t understand, but we have to respect it. There is frustration but not only because of this decision. “Because losing a match with 63.7% possession of the ball and 20 shots attempted at 6 completes the table of the lose.
Peter Bosz may not know it, but because of his birthplace, Oullins in the metropolis of Lyon, Clément Turpin has long been in Ligue 1 for a supposed acquaintance with OL. In fact, the Lyon club has won only 3 of its last 11 games played in the top flight with Clément Turpin on the whistle. And Lyon supporters still curse him for Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s penalty stopped for nothing by Anthony Lopes, since he had him removed, in a clash OL-PSG (1-1) decisive for the 2015 title in L1. The famous #PenaltyforLyon, which most often involved Clément Turpin on Twitter, hasn’t aged very well, hasn’t it?
Did Lille play a role in contesting the validation of Paqueta’s goal?
Faced with such a reversal of the refereeing body, one can wonder about the influence that the disputes of the Lille players may have had. But in fact, José Fonte’s partners mainly pointed to the start of the action, and a contact between Bradley Barcola and Renato Sanches, long seconds before the Jardim-Paqueta episode. Just after the goal, even Leo Jardim seemed resigned and made no demands on Clément Turpin. “I find that there is a first fault on Renato, confides Jocelyn Gourvennec. And then the referee felt that there was an over-commitment on Leo Jardim, even though he made a mistake on his commitment. For once, events are turning in our favor…”
The solid Lille captain José Fonte continues: “It’s football: sometimes you have decisions against you, and I remember very well all those we have suffered, and sometimes they are for you. Tonight it’s 50-50, the referee can give goal or he can not give it. But in football, in the end, the balance is always balanced. “Perhaps do not venture to take out this cliché in front of Lyon supporters, this Monday morning as a sequence of chambering at the coffee machine.