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After a bottle was thrown at Marseilles Payet, the top game in France was canceled
Photo: BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS
In French football, spectators caused another scandal.
In the top game between Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique Marseille, the French international Dimitri Payet was hit in the head by a full water bottle.
The game was initially interrupted and finally canceled after almost two hours.
Marseille midfielder Payet was about to take a corner kick from the left in the fourth minute when the 34-year-old hit the apparently still full bottle behind the left ear.
The game was interrupted shortly before the corner because the Lyon fans had thrown objects in the direction of the pitch.
The referee then sent both teams into the dressing rooms.
After more than an hour, the players came back to the pitch to warm up.
The media reported that some professionals did not understand the decision to continue the encounter - the LFP also regretted the decision.
But then there was no new kick-off.
The stadium announcer announced the referee's decision via the stadium microphone when the majority of the spectators had already left.
The league association LFP condemned the events in a press release "in the strongest".
Payet has therefore also become the »target of discriminatory insults«.
At a time when the league was regaining its attractiveness, "these repeated serious incidents are destroying the image of the championship in France and internationally," it said.
Payet again
It is not the first fan riots in France this season.
On August 22nd, Payet was already the victim of a bottle throw.
In the game at OGC Nice, he was hit in the back and then threw the bottle back towards the audience.
This was followed by a storm of space from Nice supporters and scuffles with players and supervisors.
The game that was canceled was made up for on neutral ground (1: 1).
Nice had to play a ghost game as a punishment.
For his involvement in the scuffle, Olympique Marseille fitness trainer Pablo Fernandez has been banned for the remainder of the season until June 30, 2022.
OM players Payet and Alvaro Gonzalez had been suspended.
A month later, fans at the north derby between RC Lens and champions OSC Lille caused the game to be interrupted by riots.
hba / dpa