The OL-OM shock, closing the 14th day of Ligue 1, was definitively stopped after much procrastination. the match was interrupted in the 3rd minute after Dimitri Payet, who came to take a corner, was hit in the head by a bottle of water thrown from the stands. After an announcement of the resumption of the meeting, nothing happened in the end. The referee finally decided to stop the match. Chronological reminder of the facts:
A stormy atmosphere
From the start of this Olympico, the tension was palpable: many throwing bottles had punctuated the first seconds and the stadium announcer had to launch the first appeals for calm, at the request of the referee.
Dimitri Payet hit in the head
Coming to take a corner for OM, in the 3rd minute, after having waited a long time for the hail of objects to stop, the Marseille midfielder was hit hard in the head by a bottle thrown from the stands. Payet collapses instantly. He was then treated by the Marseille staff before the match was, logically, suspended.
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Meeting of crisis and uncertainty
Marseille and Lyon leaders meet, in consultation with the refereeing body, to see if the match should resume. More than an hour after the kick-off of the match, no decision had yet been formalized.
The imbroglio of the resumption of the match
After nearly 75 minutes of waiting, the stadium announcer takes the microphone again and announces the resumption of the match, specifying that in the slightest incident, the game will definitely be interrupted. The OL players then return to the pitch for the warm-up but the Marseillais do not seem to accept the decision, as they had already done in Nice.
Official announcement of the end of the meeting
While OM does not reappear on the lawn, and the LFP publishes a press release in which it “regrets the decision to resume the game”, Lyon spectators are starting to desert the stands. After two hours, finally, the decision falls: the OL-OM match will not resume. The disciplinary committee of the LFP meets on Monday, urgently, to judge the facts.
Controversy over the decision to postpone
At the end of this stopped match, Jean-Michel Aulas and Pablo Longoria, the presidents of the two clubs, clashed in their versions of the facts leading to this decision to stop. The one from OL affirmed that the referee had changed his mind under pressure from the Marseillais, which his counterpart from OM denied. Ruddy Buquet made a point of clarifying, on Prime Video: “My decision was always to stop the meeting.”
At the same time, the LFP and the Rhône prefecture rejected the fault of the first decision to resume the meeting. In a statement, the League expressed regret “under these conditions the decision to resume the Olympique Lyonnais – Olympique de Marseille meeting by the Regional Prefect “ while the prefecture denied this statement: “In no case has the prefect taken the decision to resume the match, which does not belong to him”.
The prefect firmly denies the statements of the @LFPfr.
In no case has he made the decision to resume the match, which does not belong to him. This decision was taken by the arbitrator, in the presence of the prefect, the vice-prosecutor, the DDSP and the club presidents.– Prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Rhône region (@prefetrhone) November 21, 2021
Disturbing precedents
This incident is already the 8th of the season of this kind in Ligue 1. Dimitri Payet, already him, had been the victim of an assault Nice at the very beginning of the season, in August. The match was then interrupted at a quarter of an hour from the end, before being replayed behind closed doors and on neutral ground, at Troyes October 27 (1-1). The club azure had been sanctioned with a withdrawal of two points in the standings, one of which was suspended.