The French league attracted attention for the wrong reasons on Sunday. The championship match between the home team Nice and Marseille was called off after Marseille refused to resume play for security reasons. The Ligue 1 third round clash between Nice and Marseille was suspended with only 15 minutes remaining on the clock as football news.
When players left the field, the game was interrupted after domestic fans threw bottle and entered the field. Unconfirmed photos on internet media suggest that at least three players were injured. Although Nice’s supporters had already been warned not to throw objects, when 15 minutes were left, Nice fans threw a bottle from the stand at Marseille midfielder Dimitri Payet, who got hit. Payet threw the bottle back into the crowd, drawing a large number of Nice fans into the field.
After enraged Nice fans invaded the pitch starting a huge fight with players involved the referee decided to suspend the match. An hour later the hosts and the referee staff came back on the pitch in order to resume the match. But Marseille refused to do so.
Marseille president Pablo Longoria said: ‘The safety of our players is not guaranteed.’ When it was decided to restart play, Nice was 1–0 ahead, but Marseille refused to return to the field. If the normal rules of the French league apply, Nice will automatically be considered to have won 3–0.
The head referee of the match blew the final whistle prematurely. In accordance with Ligue 1 rules, Olympique de Marseille is very likely to be awarded technical defeat for their refusal, Get French Football News reports. A decision on whether the match will be replayed is yet to be made.
According to RMC Sport, Matteo Guendouzi and Luan Perez got visible strangle marks while Dimitri Payet has a bruise on his back after someone threw a bottle from the stand. Nice claim the club’s players Jean-Clair Todibo and Justin Kluivert were injured by OM security personnel during the incident.
