For extraordinary events, extraordinary sentences.

The disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) met on Wednesday September 8 to decide on the sanctions of the actors between Nice and Marseille, interrupted in the 75th minute on August 22, 2021 due to an invasion of field and a general fight.

The sanction was announced shortly after 11 p.m., after a five-hour marathon session, including ninety minutes of deliberation.

And for good reason: the record of the clashes that caused the interruption of the Mediterranean derby was out of the ordinary.

To the point of pushing the LFP to relocate the meeting to a Parisian hotel at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, rather than in its premises, considered too narrow.

In serious incidents, exceptional means and "very severe" decisions, Sébastien Deneux, the chairman of the disciplinary committee, explained to the journalists gathered for a videoconference.

"What was essential for us is the degree of importance of the incidents, which constitutes an extremely high level of disorder, almost unprecedented, and which should lead the commission to enter a zone of sanctions which is itself even, very severe and very high, "he continued.

OGC Nice clearly sanctioned

The match of the 3rd day of Ligue 1, stopped at the score of 1-0 for the Gym, will have to be replayed, behind closed doors and on neutral ground.

This announcement does not go in the direction of the Niçois, who felt "to have won", according to their coach Christophe Galtier, nor of the Marseillais, whose coach, Jorge Sampaoli, dismissed the faults on the opponent.

The Gym is still the most sanctioned club: with two withdrawal points, one of which is suspended, the Aiglons will drag all season long the burden of this nightmare evening.

This decision is reminiscent of the one that hit Metz in January 2017, for the firecracker throws that hit Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, causing the match to be stopped.

The Moselle formation had been punished by a withdrawal of two points ... transformed into three points suspended after appeal.

OGC Nice can appeal to the Higher Appeal Commission of the French Football Federation (FFF).

The appeal is not suspensive, with some exceptions.

The Nice will finally have to play three home matches behind closed doors, the first having been served before the international break against Bordeaux, as a precaution.

The second will be the one against OM, to be replayed, and the third… the derby against neighboring Monaco, on September 19.

OM players suspended

On the sporting front, OM, which is considering a possible appeal, deplores the suspension of two of its players: the playmaker Dimitri Payet (a suspended match) and the Spanish defender Alvaro Gonzalez (two matches closed).

"We are extremely shocked by the sanctions that have been taken against Alvaro and even Payet," the club's communications director, Jacques Cardoze, told AFP in the evening.

"We have the impression that we needed a scapegoat on the OM side and that it was he who took it. It is violence that must be condemned, not the players in the game," he added.

"Despite the circumstances of this match, their behavior appeared to us to be punishable, given that they participated, in a limited but real way, in the hotbeds of tension", for his part explained Sébastien Deneux.

"For Payet, the sanction takes into account the fact that he was directly hit by a bottle, then hit by a kick from a spectator, which was not the case for Alvaro," he said. he continued.

Suites to plan

The match between Nice and Marseille degenerated in the 75th minute after Payet, who was about to take a corner, was the target of ultra Nice supporters.

Hit on the back by a plastic water bottle, the Reunionese returned the projectile to the public.

Dozens of Nice supporters then invaded the lawn, causing a general fight between supporters, players of the two teams and members of the management of the two clubs.

Alvaro Gonzalez notably sent a ball into the stand.

OM physical trainer Pablo Fernandez punched a Nice supporter who entered the field.

He was suspended until the end of the season.

The consequences of this controversial match will not stop there.

Several investigations are underway on the judicial aspect.

The Nice supporter author of a kick in the direction of Payet, now under judicial control, will be tried on September 22.

Another, accused of having made a Nazi salute, was remanded in custody on Friday pending his trial scheduled for October 13, for "apologizing for a crime against humanity".

With AFP

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