Marseille v Lyon: Game postponed as players targeted with flares after an

Valbuena was heavily targeted by the Marseille players but he shone anyway, setting up Lacazette with a fine through ball before the striker was brought down by Steve Mandanda.

The fans reacted by hanging an effigy of the 30-year-old behind one of the goals and hurling objects at him, while Marseille players handed him some rough treatment.

Marseille returned to the pitch shortly afterwards and after lengthy talks, the Lyon team joined them.

The club also said that security measures outside the Stade Velodrome – notably regarding body searches – would be tightened.

Marseille president Vincent Labrune tried to play down the trouble. That’s when Marseille fans started making it hail on Valbuena during a corner and later on Lopes.

“Where are we going?” “Our priority is to get our house in order within the supporters groups”. Ten fans were arrested.

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas called Labrune “a clown” and said he did not have a future in football following Sunday’s encounter, when the Marseille boss had in the aftermath blamed biased refereeing for the “incidents”.

“It was a very disagreeable atmosphere”, Aulas added.

The National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) issued a statement calling for “exemplary penalties” to be meted out to serve as a warning that you can not “trifle with the physical well-being of players”.

And the France worldwide could easily have scored his second moments later but, after the Marseille defence stepped up, the unmarked Lyon No. 10 saw his effort come back off the post.

While the garrotting is a little OTT, we’ll definitely give them kudos for getting Valbuena’s bodily proportions spot on there.

“There are security conditions that need to be respected, you can not have glass bottles in the stands”. “I know only too well through French bids to host major sporting events the deplorable impact that these images can have on France”, Kanner told AFP.

Things weren’t much better on the field, with Romain Alessandrini sent off for coming through the back of Valbuena with a fierce challenge.