Hard week for Olympique Lyonnais! After the elimination in the quarterfinals of the Europa League against Manchester United last Thursday (5-4), OL conceded a defeat this Sunday during the derby against AS Saint-Etienne (2-1). In a tense match, notably tainted by a projectile jet on an assistant referee and an injury by Corentin Tolisso who forced him to leave the lawn in the 25th minute, a refereeing fact changed the whole course of the game.
While François Letexier first awarded a red card to Lucas Stassin, author of the fault on Tolisso, the arbitrator then returned to his decision after watching the images at the request of his video assistant. A decision far from being unanimous. Especially since the referee of the meeting himself recognized his error after the match. At the end of the match, the president of Olympique Lyonnais John Textor did not hide his frustration.
“The facts speak for themselves. I was disappointed. It is not to have been able to bring back our supporters. Then there is this story of red card. The player remained on the field and the one who injured it could not continue. It's a shame. We talked to the referee and asked him what are the FIFA standards. He replied that it was a manifest error on his part. This is something he should have looked directly at. The idle clearly shows that the ball was in front of Corentin. It is intentional for me. The player continued to press the gesture. I am shocked that the player who committed this fault stayed on the field. One of our best players could not continue the game ”, he said.
John Textor denounces the many arbitration faults
But for the American, the decision taken by François Letexier is the drop of water that overflows the vase. Indeed, the president of OL did not hesitate to shout in scandal and said that Olympique Lyonnais was not arbitrated like the other teams.
According to him, the Rhone club has been disadvantaged by the Var more than seven times in two years: “Everyone in France, apart from here, agrees with me. It happened seven times in the last two seasons that our club has been poorly refereed by the Var. It's the eighth time tonight. Eight times for a single club … it's unfortunate. If we have two mistakes for one of the biggest world championships, we must think about what's going on with refereeing. All we can do is write a letter and ask for explanations. We would like it to be better. »»
