The son of Bernard Tapie regretted the inaction of Pablo Longoria with the refereeing body after the elimination of Olympique de Marseille against Panathinaikos in the third preliminary round of the Champions League. Something to make people react…
Olympique de Marseille will not see the Champions League this fall. Obliged to go through the qualifying rounds to reach the group stage, the Olympian club was eliminated by Panathinaikos in the third preliminary round. A painful failure for Ciel et Blanc and all the more so given the scenario.
Beaten 1-0 in the first leg, OM quickly made a comeback and then led 2-0 just before the break. Marcelino’s men seemed to hold their qualification for the play-offs but that was without counting on a handball in the box by Matteo Guendouzi detected by the VAR in the last moments of added time. A few moments earlier, however, the video had not flinched when this same Matteo Guendouzi had been knocked down in the Pana area…
Dejected at the end of the meeting, Pablo Longoria did not fail to point the finger at the arbitration of Michael Oliver. “ We suffered some borderline decisions, which we do not share. I don’t know if you saw Matteo’s penalty…”, he thus cursed, Marcelino judging the decisions of the English referee “inexplicable”. But for Stéphane Tapie, these comments from the Marseille president are far too late. Bernard Tapie’s son would have liked to see him in the slot before the match. And all the more so since the first leg had already been marked by the severe expulsion of Geoffrey Kondogbia.
“What to say: The players did the job but Longoria didn’t. When you get your ass kicked in the first leg by the referee, you make sure it doesn’t happen in the second leg. President of OM, it’s not just about recruiting and selling players”, he wrote on Twitter. These remarks provoked strong reactions. Stéphane Tapie therefore clarified his remarks somewhat. “From the qualifying phases, you have to warn the referees so much that they don’t respect you”, he added.
What to say: The players did the job but Longoria didn’t. When you get your ass kicked in the first leg by the referee, you make sure it doesn’t happen in the second leg. President of OM is not just about recruiting and selling players. #OMPANA
— Stephane Tapie (@TapieStephane) August 15, 2023
But for many Internet users, the son of the Boss has a very specific idea in mind, which refers to the time when his father led OM. ” He was missing the briefcase like dad”, “Magnificent confession”, “Like buying the matches for example? », “Do you think he should have tried to buy off the referees?” wrote some Internet users. A reference to the VA-OM affair, which had earned a prison sentence for the former minister, sentenced for “complicity in corruption”. And for many, this affair is only the tip of the iceberg, OM being suspected of having drugged opponents or bought matches in addition to having corrupted referees.
