It is starting to become a habit in Ligue 1. On Wednesday, December 8, the long-awaited announcement of the Professional Football League to announce the sanctions taken after the excesses that had caused the stoppage of the Lyon-Marseille match on November 21 fell. Olympique Lyonnais suffered a one point withdrawal and the clash with OM is to be replayed behind closed doors at a later date at Groupama Stadium. Seventh case and seventh different sanction from the League this season.
Montpellier-Marseille: grandstands closed
The first case of overflow in the stands of the season was recorded at La Mosson during the MHSC-OM match (2-3) on August 8. The meeting had been interrupted by throwing projectiles. On the edge of the lawn, Marseille midfielder Valentin Rongier was even hit in the mouth when his teammate Dimitri Payet was celebrating his second goal.
The disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League delivered its verdict on August 25: three closing matches for the Corbières and Etang-de-Thau stands at the Montpellier stadium.
Nice-Marseille: closed session, withdrawal of point, suspensions, match to be replayed on neutral ground
The same day, the League pronounced for the first time on the excesses of Nice-Marseille of August 22. During this other trip for the Olympians, the match was stopped fifteen minutes from the final whistle because of an invasion of the field by some Nice supporters who came to fight with Dimitri Payet, who had just returned a bottle, which the had touched on the back, in the platform from which it had been launched.
During this first big media case, the LFP had imposed a total closed door to OGC Nice for its reception of Bordeaux and suspended from his functions the physical trainer of OM Pablo Fernandez, guilty of a punch on a Nice supporter. The case had been put under investigation. On September 8, the sanctions all fell: two points less for Nice, three games behind closed doors (including the game against Marseille, to be replayed on neutral ground), two suspension games for Alvaro Gonzalez, a suspended sentence for Payet and suspension until June 30, 2022 of Pablo Fernandez.
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Lens-Lille: reprieve and closed doors
On September 18, 2021, during the first derby at Felix-Bollaert between the two rivals from the North for almost seven years, the lawn was invaded at the break by some of the Lensois supporters from the Marek stand, who came to rub shoulders with the Lille parking lot who threw projectiles at Lensois supporters. A young Lensois had been hit in the head by a siege jet. Exhibitionist gestures, even Nazi salutes, had been observed.
Decision of the disciplinary committee of October 6: a suspended penalty point for Lille but also for Lens, two games behind closed doors for Lens (purged as a conservatory) and a closure of the visitors area of Losc during its matches played outside until December 31, 2021.
Angers-Marseille: reprieve and closure of stands
On September 22, 2021, new excesses during a trip by OM, this time to Angers. Several Marseille supporters entered the lawn at the end of the match and clashes broke out with opposing supporters. The sanctions were confirmed on October 6 by the LFP.
Result: closure for two matches of the Coubertin stand at the Raymond-Kopa stadium, closure of the OM visitors area for its games played away until December 31, 2021, a suspended penalty point for Marseille and 20,000 euros fine for Angers.
St Etienne-Angers: closed doors and closed stands
Kick-off delayed on October 25 between St Etienne and Angers after ultras from Saint-Etienne expressed their dissatisfaction with the sporting situation of their club by throwing smoke on the lawn of Geoffroy-Guichard.
On November 17, the LFP decided to impose a closed session on ASSE (already served as a precautionary measure) and declared the Paret and Snella stands and the visitors’ area of the stadium closed for two matches.
Marseille-PSG: a closed door
Threatened with a withdrawal of one point after the incidents in Angers, Marseille supporters were asked to be “copies“during the Classic on October 27 by Dimitri Payet. But the player’s appeal was not taken into account by 100% of the Stade Vélodrome. Every time the Parisian Neymar tried to kick a corner, the Brazilian did facing a rain of projectiles, barely slowed down by the shields of the CRS.
Despite several (short) interruptions to the game, the LFP stuck to only one sanction in its press release of November 17: a total closed-door match for OM.
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Lyon-Marseille: a withdrawal point, a match to be replayed behind closed doors
After Nice-Marseille, Lyon-Marseille became on November 21 the second Ligue 1 match of the season to be stopped and then postponed. After only three minutes of play, Dimitri Payet was the target of a new projectile throw. The Marseillais received a bottle in the face and remained long minutes on the ground. It was only hours later, when the match was supposed to end, that the Groupama Stadium announcer announced that it would not resume.
It was not until December 8 to see the LFP decide. Like Nice-OM, a point was withdrawn from the home team, in this case Lyon. And the match is again to be replayed. On the other hand, no neutral ground for this new confrontation. It is indeed the Groupama Stadium which will remain the arena of the shock of the Olympics at a later date, not yet fixed, but the enclosure will be empty of spectators.