Ligue 1 brawl: Nice docked points as Marseille players, coach are suspended

Nice have been docked two points, one of which is suspended, and must replay their Ligue 1 game with Marseille after crowd trouble led to the match being abandoned on 22^nd August.

Marseille’s Dimitri Payet was hit by a bottle and threw it back into the crowd, causing fans to storm the pitch. Payet, his team-mate Alvaro Gonzalez and Marseille coach Pablo Fernandez have all been sanctioned.

The match will be replayed without fans at a neutral location. Nice will play three games behind closed doors.

The Ligue de Football Professionnel announced its disciplinary decisions on Wednesday night with Payet handed a suspended one-match ban. Gonzalez has been banned for two matches while Marseille physio Pablo Fernandez has been given a nine-month touchline suspension.

The match at Nice’s Allianz Riviera stadium was attended by a crowd of more than 32,000 with spectators allowed back inside grounds in France after the majority of the 2020-21 season was played behind closed doors due to coronavirus restrictions.

However, with Nice leading 1-0, it was abandoned in the 75th minute after fans stormed the pitch when Payet launched a bottle back into the stands having been struck in the back with it as he prepared to take a corner.

After some lengthy delay, Nice were ready to finish the game but Marseille’s players refused to.

Authorities in France subsequently ordered a four-match stand closure and arrested a man.

The incident occurred two weeks after Marseille’s 3-2 win at Montpellier was also held up when fans pelted the pitch with bottles.

That game, on 8^th August, was halted in the 89th minute after Marseille substitute Valentin Rongier was hit on the head and Montpellier’s Florent Mollet was also hit as he prepared to take a corner.

Nice’s 4-0 win over Bordeaux on 28th August – their first game at home since the Marseille match – was played without fans.

COURTESY