Benatia, who was heard on Wednesday by videoconference by the members of the disciplinary committee, is suspended “from the sidelines, the referees’ locker room and all official functions”according to the LFP press release.
The Marseille leader, aged 37, was sanctioned for his comments towards Benoit Bastien, the referee of the recent Lyon-Marseille match.
OM 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 to the locker room corridor of the Groupama Stadium, the request of Marseille president Pablo 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.
Benatia’s first intervention was recorded in the referee’s report and the national ethics council referred the matter to the LFP disciplinary committee.
She therefore considered her comments inappropriate but the Marseille club immediately responded with a press release in which it said: “deeply disagree » with the decision » of the commission and mentions treatment “totally disproportionate” against Medhi Benatia.
OM considers that Benatia, a former player for Juventus Turin or Bayern Munich, was neither insulting nor threatening. In its press release, the club also considers that this decision is all the more surprising and incomprehensible as it is not coherent or balanced with regard to similar situations or events that occurred recently or in the more distant past.
A source within the club, who speaks of “incomprehension and anger”thus mentioned to AFP the cases of Eric Roy, coach of Brest, Luis Campos, sports advisor of Paris SG, or Olivier Létang, president of Lille, all sanctioned more lightly than Benatia in recent seasons.
“They will provoke“A contrary reaction, it will increase,” another source within the management of the Provençal club told AFP.. “The club will continue to make its voice heard whenever it deems it necessary,” also wrote OM in its press release.
Benatia has the possibility of appealing this sanction but no decision had been taken to this effect on Wednesday evening, we explained to AFP.
Trained at OM, Benatia never wore the jersey but had a good playing career with stints at AS Roma, Juventus or Bayern and more than 60 caps with Morocco, of which he was the captain.
At the end of his football career, in 2021, he briefly became a player agent, before returning to OM last November with a role as sports advisor to Longoria and a service provider status modeled on that of Luis Campos at Paris SG.
He is a personal choice of the president of OM, who worked with him at Juventus when one was still a player and the other a young manager.
