Lyon's Cage Closed During Investigation Of Fan Bottle Throwing On Dimitri Payet's Head

Stadium Groupama (Twitter @OM_English)

JAKARTA - French League operator, LFP, on Monday announced a temporary suspension in the form of closing Olympique Lyon's home, Groupama Stadium, for spectators during the process of investigating the behavior of supporters in the match against Marseille on Sunday.

The match was stopped just five minutes after the kick-off by referee Ruddy Buquet as Marseille forward Dimitri Payet was targeted by Lyon supporters throwing plastic bottles of drinks at the corner.

Marseille refused to come out of the dressing room after the incident and the referee decided to suspend the match due to non-compliance with safety requirements.

Supporting our captain, @dimpayet17 #OLOM | ️🔵 pic.twitter.com/9rcwy6RoGr

— Olympique de Marseille (@OM_English) November 21, 2021

As reported by Antara, this temporary LFP suspension will affect Lyon's next home match against Reims on December 1 which will have to be played behind closed doors without spectators.

The LFP is continuing their investigation with plans for a decision to be announced by December 8 on both the penalty for Lyon and the fate of the match itself.

This is the second time a Ligue 1 game this season has been suspended after the previous OGC Nice match against Marseille suffered a similar fate in August.

At that time Payet was also the victim of objects throwing objects from the stands until the home fans broke into the Allianz Riviera Stadium field.

In addition to being sentenced to a two-point deduction, Nice were also forced to play a rematch against Marseille from the start, despite the game being suspended for 75 minutes and Nice being 1-0 up.

In the rematch, Nice even lost two more points because they were held to a 1-1 draw by Marseille.

The reopening of the stadium to spectators in the French League this season has even been marked by a series of embarrassing fan actions, including several times the match had to be delayed as felt during the North Derbi between RC Lens and Lille.