Saturday evening, after the heavy defeat of Olympique de Marseille against AJ Auxerre (3-0), Pablo Longoria sparked a lively controversy by attacking Ligue 1 arbitration.
” All was planned, organized, from the yellow box of Balerdi against Angers. It's a shit championship, if the superligue comes to see us, we go right away. It is corruption, real corruption ”, thus launched Marseille president in the corridors of Father-deschamps.
His statements were quickly denounced by referee JĂ©rĂ´me Brisard, who wanted to defend his colleague JĂ©rĂ©my Stinat, to the whistle for this meeting, and whose home was vandalized. “We express our solidarity to JĂ©rĂ©my Stinat, who saw his home to be degraded”said the Mayennais at the microphone of Dazn.
Longoria's regrets
Under the threat of a heavy sanction, potentially several suspension matches, the OM leader tried to calm the game by returning to his words. He notably admitted a formulation error from him.
“No corruption in French football. The form was not appropriate and this word, I regret it. I am very self-criticism with myself, I cannot agree to give this type of image. A club president cannot behave like that. Nothing justifies the form and I am not happy with myself. Everyone explained to me the meaning of the word corruption in French, because in Spanish, it has a broader meaning. Be careful, that doesn't justify anything. But I never have life thought of something like exchanges of money or financial transactions, I will never allow myself that ”said Longoria this Monday with theAFP.
