The relationship between the referees and the leaders of Ligue 1 is more and more bad. The heavy sanctions against the president of Olympique de Marseille Pablo Longoria do not seem to dissuade the other actors of the evil championship behaving towards the referees. Sunday, it was Paulo Fonseca's turn to slip. During the meeting between Olympique Lyonnais to Brest, the Portuguese coach violently attacked Benoît Maillot who checked a penalty for the Bretons in the 95th minute. The OL coach received a red card and could be inflicted on large sanctions in the coming days.
“” There will be no word strong enough to qualify the gesture of Mr. Fonseca, coach of Olympique Lyonnais. Head in contact with the arbitrator: it is an act of brutality with regard to an arbitrator. This voluntary gesture was also repeated by Mr. Fonseca who, fortunately, very quickly was retained by his players ”, said the Syndicate of Elite Football Referees (SAFE) in a statement published on Sunday evening.
Lacazette caught as a target
While many cases of assaults of referees pollute amateur football, Safe is indignant at the behavior present in professional football which is far from showing the example: ” His unacceptable behavior during his team's match against Brest exceeded the understanding. How then to be surprised that several hundred referees of the amateur world are shaken each year or strike when the professional world behaves like this? And no offense to Mr. Lacazette, no, that is not part of football. It should not be part of it! ».
In its press release, the referees' union indicates that it is sure that the LFP will inflict sanctions in line with the behavior of the Portuguese coach: ” Safe has no doubt that the sanctions will live up to this act of extreme gravity. Indeed, it is essential to take any necessary measure to protect football, its values ​​and the expected exemplarity of all in the professional world ”. Pending the announcement of the official sentence, Paulo FONCECA risks up to seven months of suspension as indicated by the disciplinary scale of the disciplinary committee of the LFP.
