Worse than that could not go. Paulo Fonseca had already understood that he had exaggerated but his letter of apologies was not enough, on the contrary. The disciplinary commission of the French League has inflicted a very long disqualification to the Lyon coach, who until November 30 will not be able to guide his team from the bench. The Portuguese technician, after the exemption to Milan, pays with this long suspension the intimidating behavior against the referee Millot, complete with a head against head, during the match against the Brest last March 2. In addition, Fonseca, until September 15, will not be able to enter the locker room of his team before the game and during the interval.
Now it will be necessary to understand what the Lyon will decide who had already announced internal measures against the former coach of Rome and Milan. “I take the full responsibility for my mistake, there are no justifications – he wrote in his letter of apologies Fonseca -. The specification did not take it into account: for him 9 months of disqualification. A disqualification somehow announced.
To stigmatize the behavior of the Portuguese coach of Lyon had even been Marie Barsacq, French minister of sport, in an interview with “Le Parisien”. “The one that the referee Millot has undergone is intolerable and his professionalism was noteworthy. Respect towards the referees is a fundamental value in sport, the referees play a fundamental role, I was shocked by the attitude of Fonseca”.
And to think that the former Milan technician had literally lost his stirrups for a very trivial control of the VAR on a suspicious hand foul in the Lyon penalty area, verifies that he then resolved with a non-intervention of the referee, and therefore decisively in favor of the home team imposed at the end 2-1 on the Brest. In short, a football season born badly for Fonseca (chased from Milan to the end of December) and ended definitely worse.