The French football federation (FFF) president has joined 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 Ligue 1.
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 of the season that left them lagging 10 points behind Paris Saint-Germain, the runaway leader.
He spoke about “true corruption” and suggested that Marseille was the victim of an organised 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.
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 football.”
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.
