At the final whistle of the sixteenth round match between Olympique de Marseille and Lille (1-1, 3-4 on penalties), Medhi Benatia spoke to Bein SPORTS to express his anger towards referee Clément Turpin and his fourth assistant, Jérémy Stinat. Benatia was sent off after Luis Henrique’s equalizer, as he was allegedly at the center of a scuffle between the two benches. The OM sports director justified his actions in calm rage.
“Find me the footage of the incident, because what I experienced tonight is serious! We score, I go to the fourth official and I say: ‘tell him (Mr Turpin) that there was a penalty.’ I separated my coach who was arguing with Mr. Létang then Mr. Turpin shows me a red card 50 meters away, and the fourth referee says: ‘You pointed at me and then threatened.’ So please find me the images,” the former defender expressed in frustration.
Continuing in the same tone, he added: “And there was a penalty on Jonathan Rowe. … Why am I not allowed to speak up and defend my team? There is a fierce persecution; I’m no longer allowed to speak.” Once calmed down, Benatia still took a moment to congratulate Lille on their qualification, despite the disappointment of having left a Coupe de France described as an “objective” for Marseille.
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It is always rude to point a finger at someone.
