The President of French based Football Club Marseille, Pablo Longoria has been hit with a 15-match ban following his “true corruption” rant against Ligue 1 match officials.
The President also accused the French top-flight of being “rigged” and branded it a “sh*tty championship” after many debatable decisions of officials in his team’s 3-0 defeat to Auxerre – which saw the team finish the game with 10 men.
The referee’s union in France immediately condemn Longoria’s tirade, and he has since apologized. However, he will have to serve a lengthy ban from “all official functions” at Stade Velodrome – which includes going to the pitch during matchday, being on the bench and visiting the dressing room
Marseille special advisor, Fabrizio Ravenelli also accused referee Jeremy Stinat of “not knowing what he was doing” and he has also been stung with a three-match ban. Both sanctions comes into effect from March 4, after a meeting with Nantes on Sunday.
Marseille manager, Roberto De Zerbi will be hoping that no more controversy is sparked there, as the former Brighton boss said in the wake of a disappointing loss to Auxerre
He said: “I’m Italian, and after OM I’m not going to coach any team in France again. There’s a problem in the French championship, if French people are happy with this level of decision-making, then good for them. But today it was scandalous. The referee was not in [the right state of mind to officiate] this match because of all the controversy surrounding him.”
Marseille sit comfortably at the second position in the Ligue 1 standings with 11 games left to take in. Champions League qualification appears to be on the cards, but table-topping Paris Saint-Germain have opened up a 13-point lead at the summit
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