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Lyon were on Monday ordered to play home games until at least December 8 behind closed doors after their Ligue 1 fixture against Marseille on the weekend was abandoned after Dimitri Payet was hit in the head by a bottle.
The Marseille captain required treatment after being struck on the side of the head as he prepared to take a corner for the visitors in the fifth minute of Sunday’s match at Lyon’s Parc OL stadium, prompting both teams to return to the changing rooms.
Payet, who did not train on Monday, has lodged a complaint with the Lyon public prosecutor investigating the incident, a Marseille club official told AFP.
“He was very scared and he’s fed up,” the official said.
The French professional football league (LFP) said that “in light of the serious incident that occurred during the match”, its disciplinary committee had opened an investigation and, as a precaution, ruled that all games at the Parc OL stadium be played behind closed doors until a ruling is made, which will not come before December 8.
It means there will be no fans for Lyon’s home Ligue 1 match against Reims, scheduled on December 1. Lyon are away to Montpellier and Bordeaux in Ligue 1 action on November 28 and December 5 respectively, with a trip to Denmark to take on Brondby in the Europa League on Thursday.
France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu will meet Tuesday with representatives from the LFP and the French football federation to see “what must be done”.
LFP chief Vincent Labrune, the former president of Marseille, said he was “shocked and furious”.
“It’s urgent to launch a big national consultation concerning violence in stadiums. This gangrene is going to kill us,” he said in an interview with French sports daily L’Equipe.
By AFP