“Mr. Referee, I am not surprised.” These are the words with which Mehdi Benatia, sports advisor to Marseille president Pablo Longoria, challenged referee Benoît Bastien at half-time in the last match of the 5e Ligue 1 matchday between Lyon and Marseille this Sunday, September 22.
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“Lacazette made a mistake at the starthe fumed. Two fouls from Balerdi (who received two yellow cards in less than five minutes of the match) and you give him a red card.”
The former Juventus Turin and Bayern Munich defender then added his point without receiving a response from Mr Bastien: “Start respecting us. Don’t take people for fools.”
Finally, after playing almost the entire match with 10 against 11, OM won (2-3) in Lyon and came back level with PSG and AS Monaco.
After the match, Benatia returned to this outburst on the microphone of DAZN. “At real speed, I can understand that he gives a foulhe said. But when you look at the action, he (Lacazette) is holding on to his jersey.” With or without VAR, refereeing will always be controversial.
