Marseille sporting director handed three-match ban | OneFootball

Olympique de Marseille’s sporting director will not be able to see his side’s next few Ligue 1 matches after criticising the officials in his team’s victory over Olympique Lyonnais.

At the interval, Medhi Benatia was particularly annoyed about Marseille captain Leonardo Balerdi’s (25) sending-off, which came in just the fifth minute of the encounter for two yellow cards.

On Wednesday, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) officially suspended Benatia for three matches.

The Moroccan was displeased with referee Benoît Bastien’s performance in that encounter. “There are too many dubious things about the first half and the whole match. We were concerned when we saw that it was Mr Bastien who was going to referee us,” Benatia said.

Marseille wound out claiming a 3-2 triumph in that encounter at Groupama Stadium. Balerdi, meanwhile, is eligible to return from his suspension this week after missing their match with RC Strasbourg Alsace.

On Friday, they return to the Stade Vélodrome for a date with Angers SCO, who are bottom of the table and winless in the French top-flight this season.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre