The game between Bastia and Lyon has been called off due to numerous incidents of the home side’s fans invading the pitch to confront Les Gones players.
The first came during the warm-up as Corsican fans attacked Lyon forward Memphis Depay and BeIN Sports cameras caught footage of a man throwing a punch at goalkeeper Mathieu Gorgelin.
Unsurprisingly, the Lyon players were unwilling to start the match but the game did start after a 30-minute delay, with the majority of the Furiani applauding the away side as they came out of the tunnel.
At half-time, a second incident flared up as Lopes went to retrieve his water bottle from his goal. Corsican outlet Alta Frequenza claims that the goalkeeper caused the game to be called off after he pushed away a reported Bastia official who asked him not to goad fans.
The Portuguese reacted angrily to whatever was said, before a number of other personnel joined in the fracas.
There is also footage of a steward then throwing a kick towards Lyon’s Mouctar Diakhaby.
After a lengthy discussion, where it was reported that the Corsican authorities wanted the game to go ahead in order to avoid a reaction, the game was rightfully abandoned.
The Lyon bus left almost an hour after the match was called off under the protection of riot police but that did not stop a retaliation from the Bastia ultras. According to RMC, a number of projectiles were thrown at the bus by locals and the riot police has been replied to in turn with tear gas.
This comes after a number of incidents this season with the Bastia 1905 Kop, after one fan struck Lucas with a stick in the opening game of the season and Mario Balotelli was subject to racist taunts.
It also seems to be the promised retaliation threat from former Bastia coach François Ciccolini after the game at the Parc OL, where he told media afterwards: “Let’s settle this like men. In Corsica.”
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