Lyon calls for derby defeat to Saint-Étienne to be annulled
Paulo Fonseca’s club cites a serious refereeing error and an assault on an assistant referee as reasons for cancelling the result
Lyon have lodged an appeal with the French Professional Football League seeking to have the result of the derby against Saint-Étienne, a 1-2 defeat on matchday 30 of Ligue 1, annulled . The match was marred by a red card shown to Lucas Stassin which was overturned by VAR, and by the game being interrupted when one of the assistant referees was hit by a coin thrown from the stands.
These are the two situations that the club has cited as sufficient grounds to cancel the match. The club owned by John Textor has also taken this action, reports L’Équipe , in order to anticipate the decision that the Ligue 1 Disciplinary Committee will make on May 7, in which it will determine possible punishments for the situation that led to the match being suspended.
Referee made a mistake that harmed Lyon
Still in the first half of that match, Lucas Stassin, who had already scored the first goal of the game, saw a straight red card for stepping on Corentin Tolisso . However, after reviewing the images on VAR, referee François Letexier decided to cancel the red and show the yellow card.
In the second half, Stassin scored Saint-Etienne’s second goal, which would ultimately decide the game, after which the league’s Refereeing Directorate (DA) admitted that the referee had made an error of judgement in cancelling the forward’s expulsion.
This was the third game in the last four months in which the DA confirmed that there had been refereeing errors that had harmed Paulo Fonseca’s team, who are in 6th place in the championship, fighting for the UEFA Champions League places .
