The Italian midfielder of Paris SG Marco Verratti will have to serve a suspension of one firm match, accompanied by a suspended match for his remarks on the arbitration of Nantes-PSG (3-1), announced the Professional Football League ( LFP) on Wednesday.
The suspension of the Italian starting on March 8, he will miss the reception of Bordeaux on March 13 but will be available in Nice on Saturday, according to this decision of the disciplinary committee, meeting Wednesday evening in Paris.
After the Parisian defeat in Ligue 1 in Nantes on Saturday February 19 (3-1), the player was very upset at the microphone of Canal +. “It is not possible that we take 10 yellow cards (6 in reality, editor’s note). We can’t talk to the referee (M. Lesage, editor’s note), we can’t do anything. He is the only referee in the world who can do something like that (…) Sometimes the referees have to take responsibility, because there we got pissed off with the referees, ”he said.
These remarks prompted the National Council of Ethics and Deontology of the French Federation (FFF) to seize the Disciplinary Committee of the LFP, as authorized by the general regulations of the FFF, “when it observes behavior contrary to the Charter of ethics and deontology of football”.
“There are a lot of problems”
The FFF’s disciplinary regulations, which serve as a reference for the LFP, provide for two to five suspension matches, depending on whether his remarks are considered “excessive”, “hurtful” or “rude”.
The Nantes-Paris SG match reignited the debate around the quality of refereeing in France, pointed out by PSG sports director Leonardo. “There are a lot of problems,” assured Rennes coach Bruno Genesio, who defended the Italian.
“It’s easy to suspend a player who expresses himself after a match, under the influence of emotion,” said the technician. “You have to try to understand the players when they speak with frustration and tension after losing a match. They can make excessive statements, but that does not mean that we should punish them, ”added his PSG counterpart Mauricio Pochettino.