In a clasico, the choice of the referee is always of great importance. The first leg this season proved it again. With 14 warnings and 5 expulsions, Jérôme Brisard seemed overwhelmed, to the point of forcing Pascal Garibian, technical director of refereeing (DTA), to intervene to defend him.
If the Champions Trophy had been less agitated, despite an always palpable tension, between Neymar and Alvaro in particular, this had not prevented André Villas-Boas, the Marseille coach, from attacking Rudy Buquet guilty in his eyes not to have sanctioned yellow cards for Parisian faults.
Therefore, when Benoît Bastien was appointed to referee the match this Sunday evening, the reactions did not fail to arrive quickly. It is true that the 37-year-old native of Epinal, who arrived in Ligue 1 in 2011, arouses serious reservations, especially among Marseille supporters.
5 clasicos led by Benoît Bastien… 5 defeats for OM
There is already the fact that out of the five meetings between Paris and Marseille led by Benoît Bastien, OM have lost … five times, including a 5-1 rout at the Vélodrome in 2017. In addition, the referee has a heavy liability with the Olympian club. Already, in October 2019, his designation for the clasico had greatly displeased the Marseillais. They then criticized him in particular for having refused a goal to Lucas Ocampos in March 2015 against Lyon (0-0), for having granted two generous penalties in their eyes to PSG (2-1) in October of the same year. . Finally, in October 2018, he refused the goal of equalizing Mitroglou, against PSG, for a supposed foul by Strootman.
This season, Mr. Bastien has led 11 Ligue 1 matches and released 43 yellow cards. He once crossed the road of the Marseillais during their success in Lorient (1-0) and three times that of the Parisians in Nice and against Rennes (3-0) and at the Park during the Lyon victory where he had expelled Thiago Mendes for his tackle on Neymar. He will be assisted by Frédéric Haquette and Hicham Zakrani. Johan Hamel will be the fourth referee. Antony Gautier will officiate as assistant video referee, assisted by Wilfried Bien.
Article original de: www.leparisien.fr
