Ligue-1 Match abandoned after Firecracker Explodes Near Clermont Keeper Mory Diaw and is Carried Off
- 7 months ago
The Ligue 1 match between Montpellier and Clermont on Sunday was abandoned in stoppage time after the visitors' keeper was targeted by a firecracker.
Clermont's Mory Diaw fell to the ground when the firecracker, thrown from the Etang de Thau tribune where Montpellier fans sit, exploded next to him, before being carried off on a stretcher.
Referee Florent Batta sent the players to the dressing- room before deciding not to resume the game.
'After a firecracker was thrown near the visiting goalkeeper, the player collapsed to the ground,' Batta told reporters.
'For the safety of the players, I asked everyone to return to the dressing room. We set up a crisis unit. The doctor who examined the Clermont goalkeeper found that he was not fit to resume the match. As a result, the match was definitively abandoned.'
Montpellier was leading 4-2 when the firework was thrown in the first minute of six minutes of injury time, and Diaw fell to the ground and received treatment before being taken off.
A few minutes later, the players went back to their locker rooms.
The match was then definitively called off without the remaining stoppage time being played.
After Diaw fell, Clermont defender Neto Borges was shown a red card after a video replay showed him making a middle finger gesture towards the Montpellier fans.
Montpellier president Laurent Nicollin told sports daily L'Equipe's website that the person who threw the fireworks was arrested and that he would be banned from the stadium.
It remained uncertain whether the French league would award Montpellier the win.
Clermont's Mory Diaw fell to the ground when the firecracker, thrown from the Etang de Thau tribune where Montpellier fans sit, exploded next to him, before being carried off on a stretcher.
Referee Florent Batta sent the players to the dressing- room before deciding not to resume the game.
'After a firecracker was thrown near the visiting goalkeeper, the player collapsed to the ground,' Batta told reporters.
'For the safety of the players, I asked everyone to return to the dressing room. We set up a crisis unit. The doctor who examined the Clermont goalkeeper found that he was not fit to resume the match. As a result, the match was definitively abandoned.'
Montpellier was leading 4-2 when the firework was thrown in the first minute of six minutes of injury time, and Diaw fell to the ground and received treatment before being taken off.
A few minutes later, the players went back to their locker rooms.
The match was then definitively called off without the remaining stoppage time being played.
After Diaw fell, Clermont defender Neto Borges was shown a red card after a video replay showed him making a middle finger gesture towards the Montpellier fans.
Montpellier president Laurent Nicollin told sports daily L'Equipe's website that the person who threw the fireworks was arrested and that he would be banned from the stadium.
It remained uncertain whether the French league would award Montpellier the win.