De Zerbi reframes Lille president Létang

A stormy end to the evening at the Vélodrome. OM coach Roberto De Zerbi criticized Tuesday the attitude of Lille president Olivier Létang at the end of the match between the two teams in the Coupe de France, won by the Mastiffs on penalties (1-1, 3-4 tab).

«The president of Lille (Olivier Létang) came to speak with the 4th referee. This is the second time this has happened, he had already done it in the championship,” De Zerbi explained. “If no one tells him he has to stay in the stands, I say it. I never saw Pablo Longoria talking to the 4th referee», he added in reference to the president of OM.

The end of the match between Lille and OM, finally eliminated on penalties, was very tense around the sidelines and OM football director Medhi Benatia was expelled. “We score and I go to the 4th referee and tell him to tell the referee that there was a penalty. I separate my coach who was getting confused with Olivier Létang. And Mr. Turpin comes to give me a red card of 50 meters», declared Benatia on the BeIn Sports channel.

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“A big disappointment” for OM

«We have regrets, we are disappointed. Because I think we had a great match. Some were a little tired but we did everything well. We just missed a few chances and Mannone made some great saves“, summed up the Italian technician De Zerbi regarding the match. “Lille is a great team. We regret not passing. We deserved it and it was a goal. It's a big disappointment“, he added.

«We are disappointed but we must also be proud. We can be proud in defeat if we give everything. That's what we did and it's no coincidence that we equalized. We must leave even more motivated. We only have the championship left and we must forget this match on Thursday, where we will start preparing for the one against Strasbourg, where we lost in the first leg.“, De Zerbi further declared.