Followers let off flares forward of the kickoff as Saint-Etienne hosted Lyon (JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK)
The Ligue 1 derby between Saint-Etienne and Lyon was interrupted for 45 minutes simply earlier than half-time on Sunday after an assistant referee was hit by a projectile thrown from the group.
The linesman, Mehdi Rahmouni bent over and clutched his head on the touchline as guests Lyon had been about to take a throw in on the Geoffrey-Guichard Stadium in Saint-Etienne.
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Referee Francois Letexier ordered the gamers off.
Broadcaster DAZN reported that the officers and representatives of the golf equipment and the league held a gathering within the corridors of the bottom with a 45-minute deadline to determine whether or not to renew play or abandon the match.
After 35 minutes, Noel Mannino, the league’s matchday consultant, introduced play would resume. In accordance with Mannino, Rahmouni mentioned he was not injured however dazed and took a paracetamol pill.
“We’ll restart the sport as a result of the assistant referee feels as much as restarting,” mentioned Mannino. “On the subsequent incident, the match can be stopped for good.”
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Lyon followers had been banned from travelling to the match between the bitter rivals. The introduced attendance was 40,372 and the bottom was nonetheless full because the groups re-emerged.
As soon as Rahmouni had recovered his dropped flag, play resumed.
After 4 goalless minutes of play, the referee blew for half-time and the groups trooped off once more.
“It is a bit uncommon,” Saint-Etienne’s Leo Petrot informed DAZN as he returned to the altering rooms.
Saint-Etienne have been threatened with closure of the 2 ends of the bottom after latest “huge use of pyrotechnic gadgets and verbal abuse” however the pitch was nonetheless swathed in smoke from the stands earlier than kick-off.
Struggling Saint-Etienne had been successful 1-0 after a Tenth-minute objective by Belgian Lucas Stassin.
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