Marseille, Nice to play again on Oct.27 after crowd trouble
PARIS: The French League (LFP) set Oct.27 as the date for the replay of an August game between Nice and Marseille which descended into mayhem.
The LFP said in a statement the location of the game would be announced later but added it would be shown live by its main broadcast partner Amazon in France.
The league disciplinary commitee decided last week that the game would be played on a neutral ground and behind closed doors.
On Aug.22, hosts Nice led the Mediterranean derby 1-0 at the Allianz Riviera with 15 minutes let when Marseille’s Dimitri Payet fell ater being struck by a botle as he went to take a corner.
Payet threw a botle back into the crowd as team-mates came across to remonstrate with home fans behind the goal. Supporters streamed onto the pitch and a melee ensued involving players, staff, fans and stewards.
Marseille coach Jorge Sampaoli had to be restrained by members of his own staff.
The match was halted for more than an hour and finally abandoned just before midnight local time ater the away side refused to return to the pitch.
“The pre-season was prety strong,” says Peres. “We had great friendlies and started with a victory in the league. Now it’s time to keep up the pace to continue up there.“i have very good expectations for this season. The club has built a great team and has an excellent coach and players. We’re going to fight up there and we’ve been demonstrating it on the field so far.”
In farcical scenes, the Nice players came back out and the referee placed the ball by the corner flag where the game had been stopped, before blowing his whistle.
Nice had been docked two Ligue 1 points, although one is suspended, and have been ordered to play three games behind closed doors.
The disciplinary commitee had given Payet a one-match suspended ban and Marseille defender Alvaro Gonzalez a two-match ban for hiting balls into the stands.
The rescheduled match will kick off at 21:00 local time on a rare free midweek for Marseille who are in the Europa League.