Monday night, just after the whistle of this boiling derby counting for the 21st day of the Adriatic Basketball League, won by Partizan (92-81), the pivot of 27 years violently attacked the Serbian international Filip Petrusev, 22, before being arrested by other players, according to an AFP photographer.
In a statement, L'Etoile Rouge, which even denounces a "punch", claims "the officials of the ABA league the suspension until the end of the season for Mathias Lessort".
After this match won by Partizan, while Red Star had led at one point with a 20-point lead, the formation of Lessort occupies the first place of the table of the Adriatic League, with three points ahead of its rival, five days before the end of the season.
A former Red Star player, Lessort returned to Belgrade, but to play for Partizan where he became a pillar of the team and a hero of the club's black and white supporters, the "grobari" ("The gravediggers").
The French player, author of 27 points and 8 rebounds in this game, was very criticized, even insulted, on the networks after this incident.
Throughout the match, tension was very high between Lessort and Petrusev. Derbies between Red Star and Partizan are always explosive, whether in basketball or football.
© OLIVER BUNIC / AFP
Partizan coach Zeljko Obradovic apologized to Petrusev at a press conference after the match.
"Mathias Lessort is an incredible man, with incredible energy, and who brings great things to this team, in terms of basketball and humanly. But what he did at the end of the game is unacceptable. As a coach, I want to apologize to Filim Petrusev," he said.
Filip Petrusev went to a police station on Wednesday to make a statement, according to Serbian sports website Sportklub.rs.
Lessort hopes to play with the France World Cup team (Aug. 25-Sept. 10).
© 2023 AFP