The images are quite impressive with a sea of people in black, between OGC Nice players dressed all in black, members of their staff in the same color and the OM bench in very dark blue down jackets. The second goal of the Phocéens on the Aiglons field, Friday, at the opening of the 13th day of Ligue 1, led to a heated altercation in front of the sidelines. A general gathering, so to speak.
After Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened the scoring on a deflection of Benjamin Pavard’s header from a corner (11th), it was Mason Greenwood who doubled the lead for the visitors from Marseille (33rd). On a counter following a corner in favor of Nice, the English winger took advantage of a poor dismissal from Antoine Mendy to hook it and strike from the right. The shot was deflected by Melvin Bard and deceived Yehvann Diouf.
During the Marseillais celebration in front of the Gym corner, Emerson Palmieri was visibly hit by a projectile thrown by a local supporter. The referee of the game, Mr. Pignard, asked the players to regroup in front of the sidelines. This is where an altercation began.
Two Nice-OM substitutes warned
While the Niçois demanded the intervention of the VAR for a possible foul on Juma Bah, hit in the head by “Aubame” on the Nice corner taken by Jonathan Clauss, two substitutes had an exchange of words: Geronimo Rulli and Ali Abdi. The sudden confusion. The players from both camps and therefore the members of the two staffs tried to separate the few belligerents, causing a big scuffle in front of the main stand. Leonardo Balerdi denounced the behavior of the opposing camp to the referee.
“Roberto De Zerbi went up the laps very, very quickly. We were talking about the importance of Dante, he is not on the match sheet, he has nothing to do on the pitch, but it was still him who came down to calm down his staff and his partners”described the field man of the Ligue 1+ broadcaster, Timothée Maymon. When calm returned, the Argentinian goalkeeper (replaced by Jeffrey de Lange in goals) and the Tunisian left side were warned by Mr. Pignard, who was not very cordial (37th). The goal was validated and the game resumed with a kick-off.
Big altercation in front of the sidelines…
