Mattéo Guendouzi took great pleasure in setting things on fire. Target of insults from the Lyon public because of his past as a former Marseillais, the 27-year-old French international responded during the warm-up with middle fingers to the Rhone stands. Provocations which went up a notch at the end of the match won by Fenerbahçe (1-2), who will therefore play in the Champions League this year at the expense of OL.
At the final whistle, Mattéo Guendouzi rushed to tease the Rhone supporters, between obscene gestures, the sign “Jul”, “Go OM” released in front of the camera and other goat jumps in the middle of the lawn. Behavior which ended up causing the Gones to explode and a general fight broke out when the ex-Marseillais returned to the locker room.
There is no doubt that UEFA will open a disciplinary investigation to shed light on these incidents which punctuated the post-match. In the meantime, Guendouzi has been designated “solely responsible” by Stéphane Guy, who commented on the meeting alongside Sydney Govou on Canal+. According to him, the French midfielder must be “heavily sanctioned”to the point of not playing the championship phase of the Champions League.
“UEFA has the means to suspend a player for a very long time for this type of behavior”
“There is only one responsible, only one, there is one who ignited the powder before kick-off and after. It’s ridiculous, castigated Stéphane Guy. I hope he will be heavily sanctioned, UEFA has the means to suspend a player for a very long time for this kind of behavior, even if it happened after the final whistle. We must be merciless in the punishment. There are Argentinians after the World Cup final who were suspended for nine matches. Guendouzi, we shouldn’t see him in the group stage of the Champions League this year, that’s all! »
For his part, Mattéo Guendouzi defended himself in the mixed zone, ensuring that he simply upset the Lyon supporters in response to their insults. “You know, when you have 60,000 people insulting your family, your mother, your children, even before the match, and no one in the referee’s camp is telling the stadium to shut up…. Because I know that in France, when this kind of thing happens, there is a time when they will talk to the supporters and the match can be stopped. For 90 minutes, even longer with the warm-up, they insulted my family. It’s something that touches you, explained the man who joined Fenerbahçe last January.
“If you want to tease, then it teases both ways, he continued. They insulted my mother and my family, for me it was disrespectful. Afterwards, if we can no longer celebrate as we want, I find that a shame. Everyone knows that I am for OM, I have never hidden it. It’s teasing, they insulted my family, if we’re not allowed to make the Jul sign behind, where are we going? I have seen matches where the Lyonnais celebrate in front of the corner at the Vélodrome. It has to work both ways. For me, I have the right to celebrate. There’s nothing bad about the Jul sign. »
