LOM won against Lyon (3-2) but several refereeing decisions, during this match and during the previous one against Nice, provoked the anger of Benatia, who went down into the locker room corridor of the Groupama Stadium, at the asked Longoria, while the score was still 0-0.
“Start respecting us!” Don’t take people for idiots! »he said to referee Benoît Bastien, pointing at him.
A little later, at the DAZN microphone, his anger was colder but still present. “There are too many things that I cannot let go, that the president cannot let go. You can’t be there every week and say to yourself: when are they going to do it to us, it’s not possible”he blurted.
It is for these sentences that Benatia (37 years old) was summoned on Wednesday by the disciplinary committee, which could impose several matches of suspension of official functions on him. The Marseille leader should not be present in Paris and will be heard by videoconference. OM should, however, send a legal team to the LFP headquarters.
Privately, the Marseille leader claims to have “simply said what he had to say”while the entire club staff, who noted that there was no insult or threatening gesture, gave him their support.
“Medhi Benatia is a very high level sports director, the best I have had in my career,” declared coach Roberto De Zerbi. “I believe he expressed himself in an educated manner. He put forward our opinion and I believe he said nothing wrong,” added the Italian technician.
Benatia also has all OM supporters behind him, convinced of having found with the former Juventus Turin and Bayern Munich player a leader capable of defending their club and seduced by his work during the transfer window. His role was indeed decisive in the arrivals this summer of De Zerbi, Adrien Rabiot and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Supporters also know that Benatia is a veteran of the club, where he finished his training without ever having a chance in the first team, even during the famous “Minots match” at the Parc des Princes in 2006, for which he still blames José Anigo, who was the coach at the time.
Starting from Ligue 2, he then climbed the ranks to enjoy a very good career, marked by stints at big clubs, such as AS Roma, Juventus and Bayern, where he knew Hojbjerg.
Returning to OM last November with an advisory role and a service provider status modeled on that of Luis Campos at Paris SG, the former captain of Morocco, briefly became an agent at the end of his playing career in 2021, was since that date a discreet presence at the edge of the OM training grounds and in the official stands alongside Longoria.
Until his coup in Lyon, the manager with a sober and impeccable look had especially stood out to the general public in February with an interview during which he harshly questioned the professionalism of Jonathan Clauss, again with the support from its management.
Benatia is also a personal choice of Longoria, who had worked with him at Juventus when one was still a player there and the other a young manager.
According to a source within the club, Longoria sees in Benatia the model of the future generation of sports directors, a former player, young, curious about everything and “who knows the transfer window dynamics and what happens in a high-level club locker room.”
Before hiring him, Longoria had taken the advice of Fabio Paratici, former sporting director of Juve whom he considers a model, who confirmed his intuition that the Moroccan was “made to be a sports director”.
