Ten-man Marseille salvage Lyon draw amid crowd trouble
ByReuters
Published 20/09/2015 at 21:53 GMT
Ten-man Olympique de Marseille recovered from a nervous start to salvage a 1-1 draw against visitors Olympique Lyonnais in an incident-packed Ligue 1 match interrupted by crowd trouble at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday.
The referee brings Marseille and Lyon players off
Image credit: Reuters
The game was held up for 23 minutes in the second half after fans threw bottles, some of them aimed at former OM favourite Mathieu Valbuena, on to the pitch.
Karim Rekik's second-half header cancelled out Alexandre Lacazette's opener although Marseille were reduced to 10 men before the break when Romain Alessandrini was sent off for a violent tackle on Valbuena, who had been too hot to handle.
After eight seasons at OM, helping them to the French title in 2010, Valbuena joined Dynamo Moscow in 2014 and made his Ligue 1 comeback with Lyon this season.
"You're a traitor," read a banner in the stands.
In the second half, Valbuena, taking a corner kick, required the assistance of six stadium stewards as fans threw bottles at their one-time darling.
The players were then sent to the dressing room in the 62nd minute as trouble continued.
"The club will assume its responsibilities regarding the two or three beer bottles that were thrown on to the field," OM president Vincent Labrune told Canal Plus.
Valbuena was heavily targeted by the Marseille players but he shone anyway, setting up Lacazette with a fine through ball before the striker was brought down by Steve Mandanda.
Lacazette converted the resulting penalty in the 25th minute.
Lyon thought they had the points in the bag when Alessandrini's rough tackle in the 43rd cost him a red card, but OM were more focused in the second half and Rekik headed home the equaliser in the 68th minute.
The result left Lyon in seventh place with nine points from six games, five adrift of leaders Paris St Germain who drew 1-1 at Stade de Reims on Saturday.
Marseille are 12th on seven points.
Earlier on Sunday, Monaco's stuttering start continued when they slumped to a 3-2 home defeat against Lorient.
The principality side's second league loss this term left them in 11th place with eight points.
Goals by Almamy Toure and Thomas Lemar helped Monaco fight back from 2-0 down. after Didier Ndong and Benjamin Jeannot's early goals for Lorient, but Benjamin Moukandjo struck the killer blow just before the hour.
Moukandjo sprung the offside trap to beat Monaco keeper Danijel Subasic from close range and put Lorient into 10th place, also with eight points.
St Etienne moved up to third on 13 points with a 2-0 home win against Nantes -- Jonathan Bamba and Robert Beric on target.
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