A scandal in France: Lyon's coach hurt with a stone thrown by Marseille fans

From season to season, France suffers from hooliganism, and last night, due to the vandalism of Marseille fans, Olympique Lyonnais coach Fabio Grosso was seriously injured and may have lost sight in one eye. On the eve of the derby of the 10th round of Ligue 1 in the south of France, hooligans intercepted the bus with the Lyon crew, threw stones at it, broke two windows, and seriously injured the guest coach. Pictures of a bloodied Fabio Grosso are circulating around the world, with several cuts on his face, the largest above his left eye, about three centimetres in size. According to reports from French colleagues, the Italian expert has very reduced vision in his left eye. Grosso and his deputy were hit directly in the face, and immediately after the bus entered the Velodrome, they were taken to the stadium infirmary.

Although L’Equipe claimed that the Lyon players are determined to play the derby at the Velodrome, despite their coach being injured, an official announcement comes from France that the game has been postponed. The Olympique de Marseille delegation, consisting of Gennaro Gattuso, Pablo Longoria, and Jean-Pierre Papin visited the dressing room of Lyon, after which the final decision was made. The coaches of tonight's rivals, Gattuso and Grosso, were teammates in the Italian national team, with which they won the world championship title in 2006, and it was Fabio Grosso who gave France the decisive penalty in the final.

"We had an employee of ours at the meeting. I forced myself to attend. Initially, we didn't ask not to play. We asked everyone's opinion—the staff, the players—about whether they wanted to play the match. That's what I understood. I saw the referee immediately, and I agree with his position. We had to take into consideration what was going to happen in the stadium if the match was canceled. And then there was a medical assessment to be done for our coach. The players' opinions started to change afterwards. We could see that Fabio Grosso was no longer himself in the locker room" said Lyon owner John Textor.

The police also confirmed that the league made the decision not to continue the match and informed the public that they made seven arrests, including the two people who threw stones at Lyon’s team bus.

"OL's decision not to participate in the match was confirmed. They issued medical certificates for the two injured staff members who could not participate in the match. They also indicated that the players were in a state of shock and could not participate in the meeting. During the crisis meetings, reports were drawn up, so all the comments made by all the club stakeholders were transcribed. The position of OL was clearly not to participate in the match” said the referee on Prime Video.

Marseille president Pablo Longoria was, of course, very angry with the situation, as he was on the verge of quitting after he was verbally attacked and threatened by his own supporters just weeks ago.

"It's completely unacceptable. I have a thought for Fabio Grosso, what happened to him is unacceptable. They are unconscious—nothing but unconscious. To ruin a party with a stadium full of 65,000 people... Even if it's out of the stadium... I'm angry I'm dismayed. What happened has no place in football or in society. You come to play football and you end up in this type of situation outside the stadium; it is completely unacceptable,” he said.