Jean-Pierre Rivère and all of OGC Nice were offended by the refereeing decisions made by Clément Turpin this Friday during the defeat against Lyon (1-0). The president of the Gym wants explanations.
A defeat that goes badly. Or rather the decisions taken by Clément Turpin this Friday, during Lyon’s victory against OGC Nice at the opening of the 22nd day of Ligue 1 (1-0). It was obviously too much for Jean-Pierre Rivère, who wanted to speak with the French referee from the final whistle as he returned to the locker room. “That’s two matches in a row,” complained the president of the Gym.
>> Relive OL-Nice (1-0)
“Mr Turpin must question himself”
At the microphone of Prime Video, Jean-Pierre Rivère had a lot to say about the performance of the referee of the match. “I’m not used to expressing myself at the end of a match, particularly about the refereeing body. But honestly, it’s no longer possible. I’m not just talking about tonight, it’s piling up. has fouls which are not systematically called. Last weekend, Mr. Turpin was at the VAR, the field referee does not whistle anything on the foul. Mr. Turpin at the VAR asks for the red card (from Dante), that changes the match when you play ten against eleven. This (Friday) evening, I don’t understand. I watch the slow motion and for me there are at least two penalties. On the hand (of Caqueret), he explains to Florent Ghisolfi the regulations. We put it aside. The elbow in the middle of the surface, he whistles the opposite foul on Lotomba… I look at the images, Mr. Turpin must question himself (…) At the end of the match when I go to speak to him, he tells me ‘don’t touch me, don’t point at me’. But Mr Turpin, I’m talking to you. He’s an arrogant person. He’s untouchable but there, that’s okay. accumulated. We wonder what to do.”
Supporting images, the Nice president dissected the contentious actions, before adding a layer to the mixed zone. “You know that I never talk about refereeing at the end of a match. I have been president for 13 years, I don’t think that has ever happened to me. Being a referee is very difficult, whether he makes errors are normal, we all make mistakes. But at some point it accumulates. That’s a lot of matches where we have a lot of refereeing errors. It’s normal for a referee to make a mistake, but there is VAR. What is the point of that?! Mr. Turpin is perhaps untouchable, perhaps we cannot discuss his decisions… when I go to see him at the end of the match, I want to speak to him and he says to me ‘don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t point at me’… at some point he has to come back down. The stakes are high. Everyone can make a mistake, I understand it perfectly. But we have VAR, what is it for? It’s not just this match. When Mr. Turpin (who was on VAR) brought Dante out on us (red card against Monaco, editor’s note) the last match, the The referee said nothing, Monaco won, very good. When I learn that this evening I have Mr. Turpin as referee, I am a little worried. An intuition perhaps… we’re not bad losers but at some point we have to say stop.”
The Gym’s ironic tweet
On X (formerly Twitter), general director Fabrice Bocquet denounced “unworthy arbitration” on the part of Clément Turpin. “This has been going on for several matches and it must stop,” he wrote.
A feeling shared by Marcin Bulka. “The refereeing… it’s been two matches where the decisions have not been 100% fair. We can do much better with VAR. There were a lot of occasions where we could have at least used VAR to take the decision. fair decision, castigated the OGCN goalkeeper in the mixed zone. There is also added time. The referee gives three minutes while the opposing goalkeeper loses at least five minutes and we only add three minutes with all the changes that were made… it’s a bit strange, I would like an explanation. We continue with another match during which the decisions are not fair, the same referee is in it (Turpin)… With VAR, we can make a little fairer decisions, we have more time, that’s why they did VAR. I don’t understand why we can’t take 30 seconds more. It doesn’t is not an excuse but it is another case that is added. Refereeing is important, it can also change the match. We are not looking for an excuse in refereeing, even if it is scandalous.”
The icing on the cake, the Riviera club brought out the front page of L’Équipe dating from September 13, 2008, when the Gym lost 3-2 on a penalty from Karim Benzema in the last seconds while leading 2-0 . “Here is the front page of L’Équipe for Saturday February 17, 2024,” writes the OGCN coldly.