OM: Three months of suspension for Benatia for his behavior against Lille, the club calls

Medhi Benatia, the sports director of Olympique de Marseille, was suspended for three months, AFP said a source close to the French Football Federation (FFF) on Thursday. He was punished for his bad behavior during the Marseille elimination in the sixteenth final of the French Cup against Lille (1-1, 3-4 at the TAB) on January 14.

The Marseille leader had received a red card after grabbing it verbally to the fourth referee of the meeting. The president of LOSC, Olivier Létang, was also suspended. But the northern leader only received a firm month. He had descended from the gallery, at the end of regulation time, to grasp the arm of the fourth referee and tell him that the additional time had passed.

An “unfair and disproportionate” sanction

This Thursday, OM published a press release to share its “amazement” after this sanction. “The club once again regrets the inconsistency and the relentlessness which its director of football is the subject of when the broadcast images have clearly demonstrated the absence of a threat invoked by Mr. Stinat, 4th referee during the meeting OM- LOSC. During the hearing of this day, this absence of threat was even confirmed by the main delegate of the FFF, present and nearby during the said facts. »»

OM adds: “Convinced of the undeniable nature of the evidence provided to the Disciplinary Commission of the FFF and the unfair and disproportionate nature of the sanction taken against Medhi Benatia, the club and its director of football decided together, together , to appeal this decision and, if necessary, to seize the competent administrative courts in the matter ”.