F. Maurice: “This evening, Mr. Dechépy wore a white jersey”

Sports director of OGC Nice, Florian Maurice spoke to DAZN after the Gym's defeat in Lyon (4-1).

You didn't like the refereeing at all. We will review the disputed actions. A rant to get through?
When we lose 4-1, we cannot be satisfied with what we produced in the whole match. We missed things but we also showed some great ones. We are going to come back to the refereeing because I think that this evening Mr. Dechépy had a white jersey, not a yellow jersey. Explain to me, by reviewing the images, how we cannot call a penalty on Evann Guessand? While we called a foul beforehand by refusing our first goal on a so-called “contact between Rosario and a Lyon player”. I find that scandalous. It is a scandal what Mr. Dechépy did this evening. He made decisions that were the opposite of what they were. How not to whistle a penalty? What are you waiting for? That he slit her throat? Even at the bottom, he crushes his foot! What does Mr. Dechépy do? (To journalists) Explain to me what he does?

I agree with you, for me there is a mistake. He belts him and even if he lets go, he pushes him forward and steps on his foot. Did you have any explanations from the refereeing body, from the assistants?
There are never any explanations to be had on this. Anyway, now the match is over. I'm going to shout and get suspended by the League because I talked about the refereeing and the refereeing was not good at all this evening. We cannot be satisfied with that but we cannot simply hide behind refereeing errors either. This evening, we felt like we were off to a good start. We came back into the game with the equalizer. Then, unfortunately, we conceded 2 goals in 2 minutes before half-time. It's very disappointing but… It's only been a few months since I arrived in Nice, but last year it was already the case (in Lyon) in terms of refereeing.

What were the positive elements? Have young people returned? The state of mind?
In all the matches, we see that we are creating chances. We also managed to put this Lyon team in danger. These are the reasons for satisfaction. Afterwards, the disappointment was that defensively, we lacked aggression throughout the match. It's frustrating but we have to keep moving forward. The score is obviously heavy. When you lose 4-1, it's not nothing. There are positive things but we cannot be satisfied with that.