The last meeting of the 14th day of Ligue 1 between Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille was unfortunately marked by new incidents. OM captain Dimitri Payet was hit in the head by a bottle thrown from the stands by an individual then the match was interrupted and definitively stopped after a sad and long evening. These regrettable facts have still made a lot of talk and Lyon will play their next home game behind closed doors while awaiting the decisions of the disciplinary committee which will meet on December 8.
This distressing fact of which Payet was the victim recalls another that only those who are at least not far in their forties can remember. On October 19, 1991, Jean-Pierre Papin, then star of the French championship and star striker of OM, had received a can on the lower part of his head. The legendary n ° 9 had just got off the bus in the parking lot of the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne where the Marseille coach had just arrived. Papin obviously remembered it on Sunday evening. “Of course, but I was outside the stadium, Dimitri on the field and it is unacceptable, loose the former scorer in Provence on Tuesday. Inadmissible… ”
Victim of a can throw 30 years ago in Saint-Étienne, “JPP” calls for strong measures @JP_Papin #OLOM #TeamOM #IF https://t.co/RVFApE2DWa
– Provence OM (@OMLaProvence) November 23, 2021
Papin had also been “shocked”
Like Payet, Jean-Pierre Papin was “shocked” in 1991 after being hit by a huluberlu. “When you are about to play a complicated match in Saint-Étienne, Nice or Lyon, you are very focused. If it falls on your head, you’re shocked, explains the Ballon d’Or 1991. Sunday, I relived bad memories. I understand that there is animosity, insults, I’ve been to places where it sucks, but the projectiles are really too much. The throwing of bottles has become a French habit. Everything that is disposable must be prohibited. One day, idiots are going to throw away cellphones! You must not go to the stadium naked but not far … “
Papin: “We must mark the occasion”
At the time, the match was played later. What will it be this time? JPP in any case hopes, like many people, that strong measures will be taken. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we have to make strong decisions. Too many people thought it wouldn’t happen again, but it will happen all the time, until the laws are changed. We do not play football to have nets, behind closed doors, but we have to mark the occasion. It will be difficult because we are going to go into the legal field, but we cannot stay that way ”. In 1991, OM lost the match (0-1) before it was replayed following the incident involving JPP. The Marseille club then obtained a draw (1-1). With a goal of… Papin.
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