OL demanded sanctions on Tuesday after the serious incidents which occurred on Sunday evening on the sidelines of the match, ultimately canceled, between Marseille and Lyon at the end of the 10th day of Ligue 1 and wants the match to be replayed on neutral ground. “Today the security conditions for playing in Marseille are not met. We would therefore have to play on neutral ground,” declared the club’s general director, Vincent Ponsot, on OL Play.
“We want to replay the match, the players had nothing to do with it. Just like our players had nothing to do with it when the bottle was thrown at Groupama Stadium (on Dimitri Payet, then in Marseille, in November 2021, Editor’s note) , even if we sanctioned them sportingly,” he continued. “What we want is for the safety of our players to be guaranteed. They are there to play football and what we ask is that they do not take a concrete block to the head” , he said.
Several complaints will be filed
The match at the Stade Vélodrome was canceled in particular due to the stoning of the OL bus during which the club’s Italian coach, Fabio Grosso, was seriously injured in the face. The technician, who had to have twelve stitches put in, was not in training this Tuesday. Also speaking on OL Play, OL deputy general director Xavier Pierrot indicated that complaints would be filed in the coming days. “Most of the complaints from Fabio Grosso and members of the management will be filed on Thursday, those from the club will be filed before,” he said. The purpose of these complaints against X, he said, is to provide a “solid case” for justice. When the perpetrators have been identified, “we will file a complaint by name against these people”.
Three investigations were opened by the Marseille prosecutor. The first two relate to the stone-throwing of the OL bus and another incident of the same type targeting a Lyon supporters’ bus. The third targets the behavior of some of the Lyon supporters inside the Vélodrome who made Nazi salutes and uttered monkey cries in the direction of the Marseillais. “Today there is a whole media focus on these incidents to try to make us forget the first part,” said Xavier Pierrot, who however stressed that these behaviors were “extremely serious”. “We have filed a complaint. We are waiting for the videos that have been requested to try to identify the people,” underlined the Lyon leader.
Referring to the “behavior of Lyon supporters in the visitor area during the Olympique de Marseille-Olympique Lyonnais meeting”, the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League announced in the evening that it would render its decision on November 22. “In view of the seriousness of the facts, the LFP disciplinary committee decides to put the case under investigation,” she explains in a press release.
A Marseille fan in pre-trial detention, another under judicial supervision
Brought to appear immediately for the attack on a bus of Lyon supporters on Sunday evening, an Olympique de Marseille supporter was placed in pre-trial detention on Tuesday and another under judicial supervision pending their respective trials. Accused of violence, projectile throwing and damage during the incidents leading to the cancellation of the OM-OL match on Sunday, the first, a 22-year-old Marseille fan, will remain behind bars until his trial scheduled for November 23. The second defendant arrested on Sunday, aged 50, referred for the same charges to the Marseille judicial court, was released pending a hearing set for January 23.
Their lawyers had both requested an adjournment, “to prepare (their) defense and in order to calm things down”, explained before the hearing Me François Defendini, lawyer for Patrice G., 50 years old. Executive, father of three children, employed for 23 years in a household appliances brand, the latter admitted having sent a smoke bomb towards the Lyon bus, claiming however to have responded to Lyon shots. Thomas S., 22 years old, subscriber of the North bend, storekeeper and forklift driver for two and a half years in the same company, “well integrated” according to his counsel, Me Sandrine Prospéri, also admitted to having thrown a stone. But only because he had just received it on the foot.