OGC Nice president sanctioned for referee outburst
Clément Turpin’s refereeing performance during Olympique Lyonnais’ slender 1-0 victory over OGC Nice a fortnight ago drew strong criticism, not least from Les Aiglons president Jean-Pierre Rivère.
“Being a referee is difficult and making errors is normal, we all make them. But at a certain point in time, it accumulates. There have been lots of matches where we have been victims of refereeing errors,” began Rivère following the defeat.
Nice were particularly irate that they weren’t awarded a penalty for a foul on Jordan Lotomba. It came a week after club captain Dante had been controversially sent off in the Côte d’Azur derby against AS Monaco. The man responsible for sending the referee on the night to review the incident, which initially went unsanctioned? Mr. Turpin.
“Mr Turpin is maybe untouchable. Perhaps we can’t discuss his decisions. At some point, he needs to come back down […] it’s not just this match. When Turpin was on VAR in the last match, he sent off Dante. When I heard that Mr Turpin was refereeing tonight, I was a bit worried,” said Rivère, who also accused Turpin of being “arrogant”.
Those comments have now been punished by the LFP. Rivère has been handed a two-game ban for the comments, which were made to broadcaster Prime Video Sport, as well as journalists located in the mixed zone post-match.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
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