At the Toulouse Stadium,
Always skilful, the TFC communication unit did not leak this locker room video by chance, after the stunning defeat against Olympique de Marseille (2-3), Sunday evening in Ligue 1. We see several players huddled around a laptop, as well as coach Philippe Montanier and President Damien Comolli.
On the screen is the sole of Cengiz Ünder on Zakaria Aboukhlal, which earned a yellow card for the Turk of Marseille in the 54th minute. After this viewing, the Moroccan then lifts his left leg to show Montanier the huge gash on his knee, the result of his encounter with the crampons of the Marseille striker, who will score OM’s second goal five minutes later.
At the microphone of Amazon Prime Video, the coach of the 11th of L1 let his anger filter: “We still have one of the best referees in Europe with Ms. Frappart but I find that she was not at her level. This evening. We suffered two assaults. You would see Zakaria and Gaby’s knee [Gabriel Suazo], it is unacceptable. She remains a very, very great referee for me, but tonight she was not having a good day and the players have to be protected. I hope there will be no serious consequences from these injuries. »
Yellow for Ünder, nothing for Veretout
Suazo, the excellent Chilean side of Tef ‘, was cut in stoppage time of the match by Jordan Veretout. If Stéphanie Frappart had at least shown the yellow card for Ünder (one of only two in the match, with that of her teammate Sead Kolasinac for an anti-play foul on Aboukhlal), the French international midfielder completely went through the drops, mallard style.
In a press conference, Montanier gave a layer: “On certain facts of the game, it was not clear. We are very proud to have the best referees in Europe but she, like me, like everyone else, sometimes it’s not a good day. One wonders how the Marseillais could finish at eleven. “On Prime Video, the metronome of the Violets Branco van den Boomen also considered that the gesture of Ünder was worth red.
Yet located at the bottom of the Cantona ladder, which measures thundering declarations, goalkeeper Maxime Dupé released a nice understatement in the mixed zone: “The Marseillais were good, the referee a little less. »
A pioneer already criticized in the past
Having become the first woman in Qatar to whistle a men’s World Cup match, after being the first to lead a Ligue 2 match, then Ligue 1, the Champions League and a Coupe de France final, Stéphanie Frappart had entitled to its share of harsh remarks in the past.
David Le Frapper, then coach of Valenciennes, let go in 2015, before apologizing: “A woman who comes to arbitrate in a men’s sport, it’s complicated. ” In the middle of OL-OM, in October 2019, André Villas-Boas, the Marseille technician at the time, threw him a ” You don’t have the level. “Last example, Rudi Garcia had finished a Lyon-Monaco (0-2) in the stands in April 2021 before remarking that “with this referee, it is not the first time that we have had results like this evening” .
The Toulouse critics on Sunday evening were less frontal. Neither Montanier nor any of his players blamed Stéphanie Frappart for the defeat against “a team that will fight for the title”, according to the Toulouse coach. La Francilienne let play a lot during a very committed match but without big tensions, thus favoring the spectacle even if it means “forgetting” certain faults, such as shirt pulling.
That said, we would have liked to hear Stéphanie Frappart about the two “attacks” mentioned by Montanier. But it is for the moment a wishful thinking, while waiting for the wish for a greater openness to the media of the corporation, expressed by the new head of arbitration Antony Gautier, to perhaps become a reality one day.