Established 1961 Sport TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2021 Probe opened into violence that led to abandonment of Nice-Marseille game NICE: Fans invade the pitch during the French L1 football match between OGC Nice and Olympique de Marseille (OM) at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice, southern France on Sunday. — AFP PARIS: Local authorities in Nice have opened an after Marseille refused to return to the field of play, investigation into the ugly incidents which led to the with club president Pablo Longoria complaining that abandonment of Sunday’s Ligue 1 match between the safety of his players “could not be guaranteed”. the home side and Marseille, while politicians in “The league wanted the match to restart. We France called for punishments to be meted out to decided for the safety of our players, who were those responsible. attacked during the pitch invasion, not to resume The public prosecutor in the southern city con- because the safety of our players was not guaran- firmed it had begun a probe but said no arrests had teed,” Longoria said, adding the referee “was with been made after Nice supporters invaded the pitch us” and decided to stop the game. and angrily confronted Marseille’s Dimitri Payet, It now remains to be seen what action will be who had thrown a bottle lobbed at him back into taken by the league, which must decide whether to the crowd, before a brawl replay the game or award broke out involving players Nice a victory on the basis and spectators. The French that Marseille forfeited the league (LFP) released a match by refusing to return short statement saying it Marseille refuse to the pitch. “What really had summoned the two sparked things off unfortu- clubs to a hearing tomor- restart over nately was the reaction of row “following the serious two Marseille players who incidents”. safety issues threw bottles back at the The hosts were leading supporters,” claimed Nice the Mediterranean derby 1- president Jean-Pierre Marseille’s French midfielder Dimitri Payet (right) speaks as Marseille’s Argentine head coach Jorge 0 through a Kasper Dolberg Rivere. Sampaoli (center) is steered by a colleague during the match. — AFP goal when the game was interrupted in the 75th There had already been a loud-speaker minute at the Allianz Riviera as Payet fell to the announcement earlier in the game asking support- tions under the ownership of Ineos, the group Minister Delegate in charge of sport. She said those ground after being struck by a bottle thrown from the ers to stop throwing bottles and there were also chaired by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe. guilty of throwing objects and invading the pitch crowd as he went across to take a corner. reports of incidents in the VIP box involving the The match was attended by over 32,000 fans with should be punished “if we can find them...I think The former France international threw a bottle presidents of the two clubs. One witness told AFP spectators allowed back inside stadiums in France there needs to be punishments for the club in ques- back into the crowd as team-mates came across to they had “grabbed each other by the neck and after almost all of last season was played out behind tion.” Christian Estrosi, the center-right mayor of remonstrate with Nice fans packed in behind the goal. needed to be separated by their bodyguards”. closed doors due to coronavirus restrictions. Now, Nice who was at the game, got involved too, tweet- Some supporters then streamed onto the pitch and a however, Nice run the risk of having to play several ing: “Violence is always intolerable. There must be melee ensued involving players and staff from both Blow for French football games in an empty stadium again as a punishment, punishments after (the league) has determined who teams, fans and stewards. Marseille coach Jorge The incidents are a huge blow for the image of and politicians lined up to call for action to be taken. was responsible.” “The behavior of some of the Sampaoli had to be restrained by members of his own Ligue 1, less than two weeks after Lionel Messi “It is of course regrettable given how long we supporters was unspeakable but so was that of the staff. The match was halted for more than an hour and moved to France to sign for Paris Saint-Germain. It have gone watching matches without spectators in Marseille president in the stands and the coach on was finally abandoned just before midnight local time is also a major blow for Nice, a club with big ambi- stadiums,” said Roxana Maracineanu, France’s the field,” he added. — AFP point through Roberto Pereyra’s penalty and a Gerard Ronaldo denied late Deulofeu strike. Ronaldo entered the field to loud applause from the Juve fans on the hour mark with Juve leading 2-1 and winner, Mourinho he was unlucky not to restore their two-goal advan- tage when his header from a Dybala cross flashed wide. And with just seconds left he wheeled away after off to winning start meeting Federico Chiesa’s pinpoint cross with a trade- mark header, celebrating with his jubilant teammates MILAN: Cristiano Ronaldo was denied a last-gasp win- who thought he had saved their skins. However he ner to save Juventus after his stoppage-time header was could only watch on in desperation as his winner was ruled out for offside in a dramatic 2-2 draw at Udinese, chalked off by VAR. while Jose Mourinho got off to a winning start at Roma with a 3-1 victory over Fiorentina. Abraham repays Mourinho Ronaldo started on the bench at the Dacia Arena in It was the most dramatic moment in an eventful Udine amid rumors he is looking for a way out of the night in the Italian top flight, with six red cards in four Italian giants, but he almost snatched the three points matches and three big-name managers returning to the deep into stoppage time after Juve insisted he was going touchline. The one with the biggest reputation — nowhere this term. After the match returning coach Mourinho — was made happy by two assists from new Massimiliano Allegri played down the controversy, say- signing Tammy Abraham who shone on his Roma UDINE: Juventus’ Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo heads the ball during the Italian Serie A football ing that he was always planning to bring on Ronaldo. debut at the Stadio Olimpico. match between Udinese and Juventus at the Dacia Arena Stadium in Udine, on Sunday. — AFP “Cristiano is OK... It’s the start of the season and With Fiorentina already down to 10 men, in the 26th seeing the condition everyone is in and thinking about minute Abraham slipped through Henrikh Mkhitaryan his first match in Serie A since winning the league with football with Napoli, his team running out 2-0 winners the game, especially at the beginning, I put him on the whose neat finish was given as a goal after a long VAR Inter Milan in 2010 when he rolled home the third in over promoted Venezia despite playing three-quarters bench knowing that there would be a need for him to check. Nicolo Zaniolo’s second yellow card gave a the 79th minute after collecting a brilliant Eldor of the match a man down after striker Victor Osimhen come on,” he told broadcaster DAZN. “He made him- brave Fiorentina side hope and Nikola Milenkovic lev- Shomurodov pass. was sent off for punching Daan Heymans. self available, like everyone. He played well, even elled the scores on the hour mark. However great work “We were good 11 against 11, good 10 against 10, Lorenzo Insigne opened the scoring with a 62nd- scored a goal but unfortunately it didn’t stand.” again from Abraham — who also hit the bar — led to but with 11 against 10 we weren’t that good,” minute penalty after having blazed over a spot-kick Allegri’s Juve looked to be cruising to victory when Roma retaking the lead through Jordan Veretout four Mourinho told DAZN. “I liked the spirit, the sacrifice just minutes before, and Eljif Elmas drilled home the Paulo Dybala, wearing the captain’s armband, and Juan minutes later, the 23-year-old just about staying onside the work we put in after the super difficult match on second 11 minutes later to secure the win. There was Cuadrado put them two ahead midway through the before rolling a perfect low cross which allowed the Thursday. But we had difficult moments that I wasn’t no lack of drama in Sunday’s other match, with first half. But two second-half blunders from Juve French midfielder to slot home. expecting.” Bologna beating new boys Salernitana 3-2 in a match ‘keeper Wojciech Szczesny allowed Udinese to take a Veretout made sure Mourinho got three points from Luciano Spalletti also triumphed on his return to in which three players were sent off. — AFP.