Clermont coach Pascal Gastien experienced the exclusion of his player Alidu Seidu, who received a red card just before half-time during the Auvergnats’ defeat on Saturday at home to Lens (0-3) as a ” injustice”.
“If it had been a player other than a Clermont player, there would have been no red card and I therefore feel an injustice,” declared Gastien, himself excluded from the sidelines during a moment of tension, which followed the expulsion of Seidu after an altercation with Elye Wahi, who received a second red card during the action forcing him to also leave the field.
“On my own exclusion, I told the assistant referee that I had the impression that we did not want to see Clermont in Ligue 1. Seidu reacted but I found that it was unfair. My reaction is not absolutely intelligent either,” said Pascal Gastien, judging “that the match was not violent.” For his part, Franck Haise, the Lens coach, also spoke of the incident, blaming its origin on the attitude of the Clermontois.
“Wahi takes a yellow card for the previous action and the Clermont players went for the second warning. They wanted a loser, there were three: Elye, the Clermont player who had come for him and, for me, logically sanctioned, and the coach who had been on the sidelines quite vindictive for a while,” said he assured.
“There was nothing but when you want to get the second yellow on an opponent, you come and put your forehead on his head so that both take a yellow. Except whoever did this took a red because he was the one who came. It’s pretty logical. Or maybe nothing should be given to both or only a yellow to Seidu. Refereeing a match with tensions is never easy,” he concluded.