Montpellier’s president to his arrested fan: ‘You bastard’

In the world of French football, Montpelier is not the club which boasts big support (13th in the league, with an average of 13800 per game), and they are certainly not notorious with their ultras and their shenanigans (unlike Marseille, for example). But, like in any other club, there are stupid fans who ruin the game with their stupidity. And one of them was at the stands at the Stade de la Mosson yesterday and thought it would be interesting to throw a firecracker at the visiting goalkeeper in injury time when his team was already winning 4-2. His idea was obviously not only stupid, but dangerous, as the visiting Clermont keeper was sent to the hospital, and the fan was arrested. Of course, the club is faced with a hefty punishment.

At the very end of the game between Montpelier and Clermont Foot, with the score being 4-2 for the hosts, one fan threw firecrackers on the pitch, and they exploded just next to the visiting keeper Mory Diaw. Luckily for the Senegalese, they didn’t hit him, but he fell on the ground in shock and had to be stretched off. The game was abandoned, even though it was only a matter of minutes before the end. And Montpelier's president was furious.

“My feeling? Disgust, disillusionment and a lot of sadness. When you lead 4-2 five minutes from the end of the match and potentially you are 6th this evening, with the players who busted their asses for thirty minutes at ten... It's a feeling of disgust. That some kind of asshole throws something from the stand at a given moment it becomes painful and supernatural. I hope the Clermont goalkeeper is doing well, I haven't seen the images but I hope he can return with his teammates. We are often criticized for not having ambitions, but with assholes like that, we are not likely to have ambition. It's painful and tiring” said Laurent Nicollin.

The general feeling at first was that the game could have been resumed since the firecracker fell one meter away from the keeper, but he was traumatized and sent to hospital, and for Nicollin, this is a matter of football culture and respect.

"I'm not a doctor, it's not up to me to judge. The game is sacred, we don't "You don't have to throw things from the stands at someone. It's not up to me to explain it, it's just respect. I was told that the firecracker fell 1 meter 50 from the goalkeeper , even if it's strong or not strong, there are necessarily consequences. You don't have to throw something at a player. We are educated, raised and we are not here to throw things at people?!” he said.

The day when a mrogi 'unbewitched' Montpellier with chicken's blood

And the punishment will be severe. For this type of case, an investigation is automatic. According to the LFP disciplinary regulations, the indicative sanction for any “throw of pyrotechnic devices or objects hitting one of the players in the match” is a withdrawal of points. In similar situations, like Last season when a Rodez player was attacked by a Bordeaux supporter, the Girondins were punished with a lost match, one point less on the table and a half-closed stadium for two matches, which is similar to the punishment received by Nice, when they threw a bottle at Dimitri Payet (withdrawal of two points, one of which was suspended and three matches to behind closed doors).