Roberto De Zerbi paid tribute on Friday to Medhi Benatia, who will appear before the LFP disciplinary committee on Wednesday for his comments on arbitration. “He is a very high level sports director, the best I have had in my career“, declared the Italian technician at a press conference about Pablo Longoria’s sports advisor.
He made our point and I believe he said nothing wrong
“I regret that he finds himself at the heart of the controversies. I believe he expressed himself in an educated manner. He made our point and I believe he said nothing wrong“, added the OM coach. Benatia will be heard on Wednesday by the LFP disciplinary committee for having strongly denounced the refereeing of Benoît Bastien during the match won by OM in Lyon on Sunday during the 5th day of Ligue 1 (2-3), accusing him in particular of the early exclusion of Leonardo Balerdi, who received two yellow cards from the start.
After the game, he again criticized the refereeing of Mr. Bastien, as well as that of Benoît Millot, who had sent off OM defender Derek Cornelius against Nice the previous week, following a second yellow card for wasting time. . “I don’t like to complain and you will hardly hear me complain about the refereeing. I’m just saying that I’ve never seen an expulsion like Cornelius’ in 35 years of football. And I’ve never seen an expulsion for two yellow cards after five minutes either.” De Zerbi said on Friday.
“But I don’t think anyone is mad at OM. I don’t see any bad intentions, just maybe mistakes. And coaches do more than referees“, he added.
