Philippe Diallo was quick to react to news from this 15th day of Ligue 1, as soon as his re-election was announced on Saturday at the head of the French Football Federation (FFF). He indeed wanted to react to the treatment suffered by French referee Willy Delajod after his highly contested performance during the championship clash between OM and Lille on Saturday afternoon (1-1).
“The president of the FFF Philippe Diallo condemns with the greatest firmness the intolerable insults and threats, particularly on the networks, of which the referee Willy Delajod is the victim, following the meeting between Olympique de Marseille and the Losc”, published the federation in a press release.
“The referee never had this match in hand”
Through this press release, the FFF also explained “that it will become a civil party in the context of the filing of a complaint which Willy Delajod intends to proceed with”. The 32-year-old referee left the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille under whistles on Saturday, and escorted by security agents. While Losc president Olivier Létang and OM sporting director Medhi Benatia took to the pitch at the end of the match, several of his decisions were strongly contested by the Marseille players, then by their coach.
Our file on arbitration
“I believe that the referee did not have a good match, that he never had it in hand,” Roberto De Zerbi declared in particular at a press conference. The Italian coach of OM criticizes Willy Delajod for the non-expulsion of Lille defender Bafodé Diakité, before he equalized at the end of the match (1-1, 87th), as well as an “obvious block on Leonardo Balerdi » on this equalization of Losc, and “a penalty not whistled for a foul on Jonathan Rowe”.
