Olympique de Marseille’s Argentine international defender Gab-riel Heinze on Friday blasted a decision to deny access to visiting fans for today’s crunch showdown with old rivals Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes, accusing the authorities of “knowing nothing about football.”
“There are things going on which I don’t like. Without fans there is no spectacle — and football is about the fans. I don’t like playing like this [without visiting fans],” said the former Real Madrid, PSG and Manchester United defender after police backed an LFP move to keep visiting fans out.
“The person who has decided this knows nothing about football and as for it being a Clasico, well it’s the supporters who make a real Clasico,” Heinze said.
He made his comments after the Paris police prefecture wrote to PSG officials saying that, given a perceived threat to public order, the visitors enclosure would be closed to away fans — upholding an earlier decision by the LFP.
The initial LFP decision indicated that away fans would not be admitted either to today’s game or March’s return match at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome.
Heinze was biting in his criticism of the decision.
“I agree that security should be paramount in life, but in that case why not play in the afternoon, which carries less risk? The match is at 9pm as it’s television which holds the whip hand there and everyone knows that,” he said.
Marseille coach Didier Deschamps also criticized the move to deny access to traveling fans.
“A big game of football, whether in Germany, Italy or Spain, is played in a stadium packed with fans from the two teams,” the 1998 World Cup-winning French captain said. “So it’s somewhat nonsensical that we can’t have Marseille fans here and the Parisians can’t come to the Velodrome.”
“There’s Milan-Juventus, Barca-Real Madrid, games with rivalry and hatred, but that happens,” he said. “I think we should be capable of reaching that point in France as well.”
Last month, a Marseille court suspended an initial LFP decision to ban Marseille fans from their club’s match at PSG on Nov. 7 after nine Marseille supporters groups contested the legality of the decision.
Supporters clashed in central Marseille in October last year after a league game between the clubs was canceled at short notice because of an outbreak of swine flu in the PSG squad.
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