OM are angry. While OL were sanctioned with a penalty point and two closed-door matches (the one already served against Reims on December 1 and the match against Marseille to be replayed) on Wednesday evening by the LFP disciplinary committee, the Marseille club did not wait to hear this verdict to charge the League. Its communications director Jacques Cardoze indeed appeared in front of the LFP headquarters even though the file was being studied to complain that OM was not invited.
“This commission is illegitimate. It is a travesty of justice. Never a match had been stopped after 4 minutes of play. And here is that one of the two parts is not even invited to express itself and to bring a contradiction, he was indignant in a cleverly prepared statement. . Do you know of a court of law in the world that summons the responsible but not the victim? It’s a shame for French football. President Pablo Longoria was at the hotel in Paris awaiting a summons. This is how contemptuously they have decided to treat the president of the most popular club in France. We cannot accept this. “
💬 “It’s a shame for French football”
The reaction of Jacques Cardoze, OM’s communications director in @lequipedegreg#EDG pic.twitter.com/cUFFqA1lb3
– the L’Équipe channel (@lachainelequipe) December 8, 2021
In the evening, Marseille defender Alvaro Gonzalez added a little layer on Twitter. “It’s okay until something bad happens… Keep it up.” Shame ”, he wrote, while the mayor of the city, Benoît Payan, for his part considered the decision“ incomprehensible ”. “The values of football are absolutely not respected tonight. We have reasons to be angry, ”he said.
The LFP denounces a “pressure”
The chairman of the disciplinary committee, Sébastien Deneux, reacted to Jacques Cardoze’s statements by saying he was “quite surprised and flabbergasted by this type of behavior, which is akin to pressure”. If OM were not convinced, it is because they were only victims in this story, and not responsible for the incidents.
He also justified this sanction: “Any act of violence against a player in the game, especially an adult player, exposes a penalty in loss of points. [Mais] We took into consideration the actions of the Lyon club immediately after the incidents, which in particular allowed the identification of the author of the bottle throwing and gave the possibility of seeing it sanctioned by the criminal justice system. “
The author of the projectile throw on Dimitri Payet, during this famous match of November 21, was sentenced by the justice to six months in prison suspended in immediate appearance. Interrupted at 0-0 after only four minutes, the meeting had never resumed, at the end of an imbroglio involving referee, clubs and representatives of the State.