Marseille threaten to quit Ligue Un and join Super League; De Zerbi blasts ‘scandalous controversy’
Marseille president Pablo Longoria has threatened to quit Ligue Un after head coach Roberto De Zerbi hit out at a “scandalous” referee “controversy”.
Marseille suffered a damaging 3-0 away loss against Auxerre on Saturday. Gaetan Perrin fired the hosts ahead before a late brace by Jubal (one goal via a penalty) settled the match in their favour.
De Zerbi‘s side played the final 30 minutes with ten men as defender Derek Cornelius was shown a red card by referee Jeremy Stinat. Table-toppers Paris Saint-Germain subsequently beat Lyon on Sunday to move 13 points clear of Marseille in the Ligue Un table.
Speaking post-match, De Zerbi declared that he would “not coach in France again” after he leaves Marseille.
“I’m Italian, and after OM I’m not going to coach in France again,” De Zerbi said.
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“There’s a problem in the French championship, if French people are happy with this level of decision making, then good for them.
“But today it was scandalous. The referee was not in [the right state of mind to officiate] this match because of all the controversy surrounding him.”
This is not the first run in Marseille has had with officials this season. Earlier this year, sporting director Mehdi Benatia was handed a three-month suspension for his conduct after they were not awarded a penalty in the Coupe de France loss to Lille.
Club president Pablo Longoria also hit out at Ligue Un and its officials after Saturday’s match, threatening to “go right away” to the Super League.
“Everything has been organised. It’s planned, it’s rigged,” club president Longoria said.
“There’s a penalty on Merlin, four European referees have told me so by message, and the most scandalous thing is the red card to Cornelius.
“This is a sh***y championship, if the Super League comes to see us, we’ll go right away.”
Unsurprisingly, Marseille find themselves in hot water for these comments and SAFE (France’s referee’s union) has threatened legal action against the Ligue Un club.
“Lawsuits will be filed for defamation. And against all those behind the hate messages and death threats received since last night,” the union said in a statement on Sunday.
They added: “French referees are not corrupt. Losing a game can’t justify questioning the integrity of French referees.
“To suggest there’s a system of organised corruption is not only defamatory for the referees in the professional leagues; it’s proof of ignorance of their work and their commitment to serving football and it is to throw to the wolves all the referees officiating at professional, but also amateur, levels with the consequences that this can bring.”
A report from The Athletic has revealed Marseille’s stance on this situation, with a ‘spokesperson’ for the club claiming Longoria’s words have been lost in translation.
‘A spokesperson for Marseille told The Athletic they felt they had been on the wrong side of too many refereeing decisions this season and that referees had been unduly harsh on them, pointing out that they have received six red cards, for example.
‘They said Marseille had sent a letter to the refereeing committee last week Monday, voicing their concerns about Stinat but received no reply.
‘They added how Longoria, who was not speaking in first language, had only meant to use the word ‘corruption’ because of his frustration with the referee’s performance, rather than implying anything more serious. They added how he was only being provocative when he mentioned leaving for a Super League.’
