Authorities in Nice have opened a probe into the incidents which caused the abandonment of Sunday’s Ligue 1 match between OGC Nice and Olympique de Marseille, the local prosecutor’s office said yesterday.
“An investigation is under way, but no one has been taken into custody” at this stage, the prosecutor’s office said.
The match was abandoned when fans of the home side invaded the pitch and angrily confronted opposing player Dimitri Payet, who had thrown a bottle lobbed at him back into the crowd, before an ugly brawl broke out involving players and spectators.
Photo: AFP
Marseille eventually refused to restart the match with club officials claiming their players’ safety could not be guaranteed.
Trouble at the Allianz Riviera Stadium flared in the 75th minute, when Marseille star Payet, who had been targeted by plastic bottles every time he took a corner, launched one back at the Nice fans.
Angry home supporters then clambered onto the pitch, threatening Payet.
In the melee, Marseille’s Alvaro Gonzalez and Matteo Guendouzi ran toward the end of the ground to face down the fans.
Nice skipper Dante attempted to calm angry supporters.
A security cordon of stewards, dressed in yellow vests, tried to stem the pitch invasion before a brawl broke out between players of the two teams, supporters and staff.
Marseille coach Jorge Sampaoli was seen being restrained by his staff and players. The referee then led both teams off to the safety of the dressing room.
Eighty minutes after the game was suspended, Nice, who were leading through a Kasper Dolberg goal, said they wanted to restart.
Marseille wanted the match halted for good.
“The decision was taken by the authorities to resume the match, but Marseille do not want to,” Nice president Jean-Pierre Rivere told broadcaster Prime Video.
Eventually, the match was abandoned when the Marseille team refused to continue.
“Our players were attacked,” Marseille president Pablo Longoria said.
“The league wanted the match to restart. We decided for the safety of our players, who were attacked during the pitch invasion, not to resume because the safety of our players was not guaranteed,” he said.
“The referee was with us, he confirmed to Jorge Sampaoli and me that safety was not guaranteed and decided to stop the game,” he added.
Marseille’s opening 3-2 win at Montpellier two weeks ago was also held up when fans pelted the pitch with bottles.
That clash at Montpellier’s Stade Mosson was halted in the 89th minute after Marseille substitute Valentin Rongier was hit on the head.
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
San Francisco Giants pitcher Teng Kai-wei impressed against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday despite an 8-1 loss in the opener of the team’s nine-game road trip. Teng, the only Taiwanese pitcher active in MLB, struck out five while allowing two hits and one walk over four innings at Chase Field to finish with a no decision, as the teams were tied 1-1 when he finished his outing. He surrendered the lone run of his outing in the bottom of the first, which began with a walk, a hit-by-pitch and two strikeouts. Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo advanced to third on
Japanese fans soaked up the atmosphere on yesterday’s opening day of the world athletics championships in Tokyo, four years after being shut out of the same stadium for the pandemic-troubled Olympics. The Tokyo Games, postponed a year until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, took place amid the ghostly backdrop of empty stands, with fans barred to prevent the spread of infection. Japanese spectators were determined to make up for lost time as the world championships opened on a cloudy, muggy morning, with fans arriving before the race walk began at 7:30am. Hajime Kondo, a 41-year-old office worker from nearby Chiba, came to
RSS