Marseille president's corruption rant sparks backlash from French soccer federation, referees
The French soccer federation president is joining forces with the country's referees after Marseille president Pablo Longoria accused them of being corrupt in a bitter rant that followed his team's 3-0 loss at Auxerre in the French league.
This is not the first time that Marseille officials have questioned refereeing decisions this season but the club had never gone that far in its accusations.
Longoria was deeply frustrated after Marseille's fifth league loss that left it lagging 10 points behind Paris Saint-Germain, the runaway leader. He spoke about 'true corruption' and suggested that Marseille was the victim of an organized plot.
PSG has one match in hand and can extend its lead over second-place Marseille to 13 points with a win at Lyon later Sunday.
'I condemn in the strongest possible terms the remarks made by the president and officials of Olympique de Marseille against French refereeing in general and the referee of yesterday's match, Jérémy Stinat, in particular, to whom I offer my full support,' Philippe Diallo, the soccer federation president, said in a statement.
'Calling into question the integrity of our referees is defamatory, unacceptable and reprehensible,' he added. 'Such comments seriously damage the image of our league.'
The referee's union, SAFE, was infuriated by Longoria's comments and announced it would ask the federation's ethics committee to look into the matter, and take legal action.
'Lawsuits will be filed for defamation. And against all those behind the hate messages and death threats received since last night,' the union said.
Longoria could not accept the second-half dismissal of Derek Cornelius for a second yellow card. Marseille was trailing 1-0 at the time and conceded two more goals in the last 15 minutes of the game. Brazilian defender Jubal scored both, including one from the spot, as Auxerre ended a streak of three straight league wins for second-place Marseille.
Earlier this year, Marseille director of football Mehdi Benatia was suspended for three months for his attitude toward Stinat during a French Cup loss against Lille when the referee served as the fourth official.
Although he admitted Marseille did not play well and Auxerre deserved to win, Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi said that Cornelius' sending off was 'scandalous.'
'The referee was not serene during the match,' De Zerbi said. 'Perhaps past controversies influenced his decisions during the match. None of the referees were up to scratch for a game of this level. I hope Cornelius' red card won't be seen outside France because it gives a bad image of French soccer.'
Former Marseille player Fabrizio Ravanelli, now acting as the club's advisor, was also left fuming by the result and accused the game's referee of 'not knowing what he was doing.' Ravanelli also spoke out against previous refereeing decisions against Marseille captain Leonardo Balerdi, who was suspended for the game against Auxerre.
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