OGC Nice Supporters Threw Missiles Over the Corner Takers
The France Ligue 1 match between Olympique Marseille and Nice came to an end in the 75th minute on Sunday 22nd August 2021 in Nice City, France. The Nice home fans interrupted the match when a fan bombarded the Marseille midfielder player with a water bottle.
Nice headed into the second half with a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from Kasper Dolberg Rasmussen is a Danish professional footballer. He scored at the 49th minute, keeping OGC Nice ahead with one goal. In the first-half challenge, Marseille had missed out on a couple of scoring chances. However, chaos ensued when Dimitri Payet was bombarded with a bottle after attempting to take a corner.
Out of Control Situation as Nice’s Fans Storms the Allianz Riviera Pitch
At the 75th minute, the referee, Benoit Bastien, suspended the game to drop the intense situation between the home (Nice) and away (Olympique Marseille) fans. Dimitri Payet, the former midfielder player from Westham Football Club, was hit hard on the back of his head by a bottle that the aggressive OGC Nice fans launched from their benches.
The former West Ham midfielder got provoked and threw the bottle back towards the Nice fans in the stands. This led to the home fans storming onto the Allianz Riviera ground, causing very unusual scenes. The situation became much more out of control when Nice fans scuffled towards the stadium.
Both Olympique Marseille and Nice fans were unable to be contained by security. The match was called off in the 75th minute. All the Nice and Olympique Marseille players retreated to the tunnel. The match referee held up the match to the 90th minute with hopes of restarting it once again.
The Olympique de Marseille head coach, former Argentina, and Chile boss Jorge Sampaoli, provoked by the current state of affairs, stood up to the Nice officials. However, he was held back by the Marseille security team at the back of his staff room.
Pablo Longoria Says Precedents to Be Set for the French Football
Olympique de Marseille President, Pablo Longoria, was disappointed with the clashing encounter between the two sides. Pablo Longoria was quite sure that safety at the Allianz Riviera stadium was not a guarantee. He was also convinced that the referee sided with Marseille.
The Ligue de Football Professionnel decided to restart the match, but Pablo Longoria and his team did not accept that. This is the second time Marseille experience such a scenario. It once happened at the Stade de la Mosson when they decided to carry on the match against their host club, Montpellier after the Ligue de Football Professionnel warned the crowd that the match could be suspended.
Marseille led with a 3-2 win against Montpellier in the first opening round of Ligue 1. However, at the 89th minute, Montpellier fans launched water bottles at the Olympique de Marseille players. The match was set to restart, but Olympique Marseille Players did not come back out.
OGC Nice President Jean-Pierre Rivere Pleads With Home Fans to Calm Down
OGC Nice chairman Jean-Pierre Rivere requested tranquillity and peacefulness to the Nice fans over the sound system. Due to the delays, resentful Marseille players and their staff declined to carry on with the match.
OGC Nice players returned to warm up after the situation at hand cooling down. However, the Marseille players didn’t exhibit any interest in showing up for the match restart. With only OGC Nice players, the referee had no choice but to put off the match for full-time.
The French daily L’Equipe alleges that Marseille’s Dimitri Payet, Luan Peres, and Matteo Guendouzi are the injured players following the struggles with the Nice supporters.
