A firm point withdrawn from Olympique Lyonnais (OL) and a match to replay, in Lyon but behind closed doors: the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) recognized, Wednesday, December 8, the responsibility of the Lyon club in the incidents of the match between OL and Olympique de Marseille (OM), in which Dimitri Payet was hit by a bottle of water thrown by a supporter. OL were also penalized for another game behind closed doors, which had already been purged when they received Reims on 1er December.
“Any act of violence against a player in the game, especially a major player, exposes a penalty in loss of points”, said Sébastien Deneux at a press conference. “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”, he added, however.
On November 21, Marseille captain Dimitri Payet received a bottle of water in the head when he was about to take a corner in front of the bend occupied by ultras Lyonnais, where no protective net was installed . The match, interrupted 0-0 after only four minutes of play, had never resumed. The author of the projectile throw, arrested, was sentenced by the courts to six months in prison suspended in immediate appearance.
“We of course considered that the club was responsible for the actions of the supporters present in its stadium. This decision highlights a responsibility of OL, absolutely “, explained Sébastien Deneux.
General indignation
Shaken by a wave of serious incidents since this summer, French football eagerly awaited Wednesday’s decision, while new government measures are expected in mid-December to respond to general outrage, heightened by the OL- affair. OM.
It was badly received by OL, who “Reserves the right to appeal” and regretted in a press release “A very heavy sanction”, who “Creates unequal treatment over the same season”, with “Much more serious acts resulting in much lighter sanctions than those decreed against Olympique Lyonnais”.
Wednesday’s decision is indeed not trivial for OL, 12e of Ligue 1 with six points behind on the podium before the announced sanctions. OL also estimate the financial loss caused by the conduct of a game behind closed doors at more than 3 million euros.
In the Lyon camp, we defended the thesis of “The individual and isolated act”, than “No one can anticipate or prevent”, and we hoped to avoid any loss of point.
The furious OM
But the decision made on Wednesday will probably not satisfy the OM either, whose lawyers had requested in a document sent to the disciplinary committee and of which Agence France-Presse was aware of a sentence “Obviously greater than two points, one of which is suspended, the loss of points being inevitable”.
“It’s okay until something bad happens… Keep it up.” Shame “, thus tweeted Marseille defender Alvaro Gonzalez. The mayor of the city, Benoît Payan, ruled the decision “Incomprehensible”. “The values of football are absolutely not respected tonight. We have reasons to be angry ”, he wrote on Twitter.
Barely a few minutes after the start of the meeting of the disciplinary committee at the Parisian headquarters of the LFP, the temperature had already risen sharply with the speech of the OM communications director, Jacques Cardoze, furious at the absence of a representative of the Marseille club. “As you have seen, no OM leader has been invited to speak to this disciplinary committee. We have not received any summons. We believe that this disciplinary commission today is illegitimate, that it is a travesty of justice ”, said the Marseille leader.
The chairman of the commission, Sébastien Deneux, reacted by saying to himself “Quite surprised and flabbergasted by this type of behavior, which is akin to pressure”.