According to the Arbitration Directorate, Lucas Stassin, the ASSE striker, should have been expelled for his tab on Corentin Tolisso, during the match ASSE - OL (2-1, J30 L1). Sunday evening, at the end of the 30th day of Ligue 1, AS Saint-Etienne won the rhônalpin derby against Olympique Lyonnais (2-1). This meeting between Verts and Gones was notably marked by the exit on injury and stretcher of Corentin Tolisso (26th), the middle of the Rhodanian terrain, victim of a tacle from behind Lucas Stassin. The young Belgian attacker of the ASSE, author of the opening of the score earlier in the game (10th), was immediately sanctioned by a red card (23rd) by Mr François Letexier, the referee of this derby. But the official, called by the VAR, had reviewed his initial judgement after viewing images and had turned this direct red into a single yellow card (25th). According to the management of the arbitration, François Letexier should not have been called by the VAR and the player of the flat country should have been expelled. “In accordance with the Video Assistance Protocol to Arbitration, it is for the Video Arbitrator to determine whether the original decision of the Arbitrator is a “manifest error”. In this situation, the offence committed by the Stéphanois player is characterized by a sole on the Achilles tendon, then on the foot of the Lyon player, which then causes a significant twist of the victim’s ankle, without touching the ball. Thus, even if the description of the Stéphanois player’s gesture provided by the central referee to the video referee is imperfect, the sending of the images to the edge of the field was not expected because the decision of red card for gross misconduct taken initially by the referee was clearly not a “manifest error”. Moreover, in view of the images, it would have been desirable to propose to the arbitrator other camera angles (notably that of the “left magnifying glass” camera) which would then have made it possible to identify with greater precision the nature of the gesture and to avoid the arbitrator not reversing his original decision: the red cardboard was therefore not intended to be corrected”, the case said.

An advance of one goal, a red card finally cancelled wrongly and a first successful half, all the visionaries were in the green for the AS Saint-Etienne, Sunday night in Geoffroy-Guichard. And then, the stupidity of a supporter has called everything into question and may well have more serious consequences than just a 40-minute derby stop. One minute from the break, l