Medhi Benatia's turn to express themselves on the incredible series of events of the last days at Olympique de Marseille. The director of football of the Marseille club, interviewed by RMC, placed in line with its president Pablo Longoria, who had justified the placement on the list of transfers of Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe by the violent and unacceptable nature of their fight after the defeat in Rennes (1-0) on Friday.
Benatia also talked about “physical assault”, but it was rather the absence of excuses and taking responsibility that was the drop that overflowed the vase. And he also deplores, in passing, the fact that the information has leaked so easily …
The club awaited apology
“If what happened is serious, very serious, I think that going out in the press and telling what's going on in the locker room, it makes you pass a little bit as if you have no codes. (…) The locker room is sacred and that is why we tried with all our strength to calm things down a little, to explain that there have been overflows, scuffles, but that it was not necessary to make it a state of state either.
We hoped that in the 24-48 hours after this event concerned the players were going to think, perhaps simply asking for forgiveness from the club, to the coach … There were no apology and we summoned the two players on Monday, before we explain in a meeting with the presence of the coach, all the players, Pablo and myself, the sanctions that we had decided to take against these two players.
Medhi Benatia and Pablo Longoria will still find it difficult to calm the supporters. Most of them struggle to understand why the players – especially a framework like Adrien Rabiot – were not just heavily put in and suspended. The bet is risky, but the Longoria-Benatia-de Zerbi trio is moving.
