Lyon owner John Textor: “Our team wanted to play!”
Olympique Lyonnais owner John Textor has said that his team wanted to play the match against arch-rivals Olympique de Marseille, despite the attack on the club’s team bus.
Lyon’s team bus was attacked by Marseille fans on the way to the Véldrome on Sunday night. Fabio Grosso, as well as other members of staff, were injured during the attack. The Italian manager received a considerable facial injury, as shown by images broadcast by Prime Video Sport. The broadcaster said that the cut to Grosso’s face was 3cm long, whilst L’Équipe reported that he was suffering from a suspected concussion. Lyon’s fan buses were also attacked on their way to the Choc des Olympiques.
The match was suspended by the LFP just minutes before the scheduled kick-off time. Referee François Letexier then held a press conference, and stated the following: “A crisis meeting took place, which allowed us to take into account the opinions of the relevant parties following injuries to members of Lyon’s staff. OL did not want the tie to take place. Taking into account OL’s decision and the league’s protocol, the decision was taken not to start the match.”
However, Textor has now contradicted the statement made by Letexier. Speaking to Prime Video Sport, OL’s American owner said, “No [ we didn’t ask to cancel the match]. Very quickly after it happened, we had a team meeting […] our team decided they would play. They wanted to play, they were ready to play. I’m very proud of the captain wanting to do that. The decision was made independently of us […] We wanted to play football. We’re angry.”
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
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