Marseille president Pablo Longoria reacts to postponement of Lyon fixture: “It’s unacceptable. I’m angry.”
Olympique de Marseille president Pablo Longoria has reacted to the suspension of tonight’s match against Olympique Lyonnais. Lyon’s team bus was attacked en route to the Vélodrome for Sunday’s Choc des Olympiques, with manager Fabio Grosso suffering a bloody facial injury.
Lyon’s team bus, as well as the club’s fan buses, were attacked by Marseille fans on the way to the stadium. According to Prime Video Sport, Lyon manager Grosso has received a 3cm long cut to his face, whilst L’Équipe added that the Italian was suffering from a suspected concussion.
The decision to postpone the match was taken by the LFP just minutes before the scheduled kick-off time. There is uncertainty surrounding the nature of the postponement with Lyon owner John Textor stating that his team wanted to play. That statement is contrary to an earlier statement by referee François Letexier.
Marseille president Longoria has now denounced the fan behaviour, which saw the fixture postponed. “It’s unacceptable,” began OM’s president in an interview with Prime Video Sport. “I say sincerely, we have to prevent what happened to Fabio Grosso; it’s completely unacceptable. It is something that cannot happen in football. They’re just reckless idiots. Spoiling a party, in a stadium with 65,000 because of recklessness […] I am angry. Especially because it has no place in football, or in society.”
Longoria himself has had issues with OM’s fans, which he detailed in an interview with La Provence. Following threats from fan groups in September, he took a step back from his role as president before ultimately making a return a matter of days later.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
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