The president of OGC Nice, Jean-Pierre Rivère, is calling for “calm” on the eve of the French Cup quarter-final between Nice and OM, on Wednesday, February 9. His appeal references the incident that occurred last August in Ligue 1.
During the Nice-Marseille match that took place in August, the pitch was invaded by supporters following an incident that stirred the entire crowd. Attacking midfielder Dimitri Payet was hit by a projectile and then threw it back towards the stands. Nice was leading 1-0 when everything descended into chaos. An investigation was opened by the Nice Prosecutor’s Office. Following this, the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, spoke out against this “intolerable” violence and called for “sanctions” to be imposed by the Professional Football League. He later stated on his Twitter account: “While the behavior of certain supporters is indefensible, that of the OM president in the stands and the coach on the field was also unacceptable.”
The match was eventually stopped after 90 minutes of delays by referee Benoît Bastien. This was a “disappointment” for president Jean-Pierre Rivère, who does not condone the Marseille players’ defiance towards the Nice supporters. He hopes this will not happen again during the OGC Nice versus OM matchup on Wednesday, February 9. The Riviera president told Nice-Matin: “This encounter has a special significance for everyone, given the rivalry, the previous match, and the context. I cannot imagine for a second that anyone would come to disrupt this match after what happened at the Allianz Riviera last August.”
