The Coupe de France semi-final won by Lyon on Tuesday evening against Valenciennes (3-0) was marked by controversial refereeing decisions. Author of a double, OL captain Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring in the 51st minute with a penalty awarded for a foul committed on himself by Joffrey Cuffaut. The referee Stéphanie Frappart first went to check on the video screen the validity of her decision, before confirming it, despite the protests of the Valenciennes residents.
“I haven’t seen the images again but it seems very light to me,” explained striker Anthony Knockaert, on the verge of tears, at the microphone of beIN Sports. I do the same thing a minute before, I throw myself at the defender, she doesn’t whistle. In the surface it whistles. Because it’s a big club? I don’t know.” The 32-year-old left-hander invited French refereeing to “ask questions”. He added, aware of the seriousness of his words: “They can just suspend me if they want, I wouldn’t care.”
This defeat is the end of a dream for VAFC, last in the Ligue 2 standings. “We had a first half that matched everything except a bottom team in Ligue 2,” says Knockaert. I’m proud of the players, proud of everyone. It’s hard. I really thought we were going to do it. It’s hard to accept, when you’re last in Ligue 2, to see a scenario like that turn around, with all the efforts we’ve made…”
For his part, Lyon coach Pierre Sage brushed aside the debate: “For me, there is never a debate on refereeing. The people of Valenciennes will tell you that the penalty is not valid, while the people of Lyon will say that it is. Arbitration is something human and the decision is the one that was taken,” he commented without further details.
“If Lacazette had deceived the referee and the VAR assistant, that would mean that the penalty is not valid and if the penalty had not been awarded I would have had the same position,” he added .
Lyon will try to win a sixth Coupe de France, on May 25, against Paris Saint-Germain or Rennes who face each other on Wednesday at the Parc des Princes.
Despite the frustration linked to the events, the Valencian coach, Ahmed Kantari, did not want to “hit the refereeing” of Stéphanie Frappart while being surprised by her decisions.
In particular, he called on everyone to “form their own opinion and take their responsibilities”.
“I have the right to say no comment? You know my opinion. We score a goal, there is no mistake, clearly, we have to say what it is,” he reacted at a press conference.
“They score a goal on a penalty while it’s Alexandre Lacazette who comes to impale my defender,” he regretted.
“Obviously when we see the first period that we delivered, we say to ourselves that this fact of play had a lot of weight in the result of the match,” estimated the northern technician.
“I don’t want to let anger overwhelm me but I want to keep the pride I have at having seen what my players offered tactically, technically and on their investment. In the first half we had chances and we put this Lyon team down,” he analyzed.
