MARSEILLE HAVE FOLLOWED Uefa’s lead and suspended Patrice Evra after the veteran defender’s bizarre altercation with an OM fan on Thursday.
The former France captain kicked a supporter in the side of the head before Marseille’s Europa League clash with Vitoria Guimaraes before being led away by team-mates.
36-year-old Evra had been named as a substitute and was warming up ahead of the group-stage game when he seemed to become angry with the travelling Marseille support and made his way towards them, at one stage even hopping over the advertising hoarding to get closer.
According to l’Equipe, Evra had been subjected to abuse from his own fans for about 30 minutes.
After Evra returned to the pitch and attempted to continue his warm-up, a group of fans moved from the stands to right behind the hoarding and Evra went to confront them again, this time aiming a kung-fu-style kick at one of them.
Shortly after, the match referee showed Evra a red card, ruling him out of the game entirely and, from the stands, he watched Marseille suffer a 1-0 defeat.
Patrice Evra appears to have kicked a Marseille supporter, after some kind of altercation. pic.twitter.com/0ktKpVpdMG
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) November 2, 2017
Earlier today, Uefa charged him with violent conduct and promised ‘at least’ a one match ban.
But Evra will surely be expecting a much harsher punishment.
His employers did condemn the behaviour of the supporters, referring to it as ‘unacceptable’ and the work of a ‘handful of provocateurs’.
However, Evra hardly escaped their ire.
“As a professional and experienced player, Patrice Evra should not respond in such an inappropriate way,” the official statement read.
“In addition, the first results of the internal investigation conducted by the club reveal unacceptable behaviour on the part of a handful of provocateurs who uttered particularly serious hateful attacks against the player, even though the latter and his team-mates warmed up for an important game.”
Evra will be the subject of a disciplinary hearing on Saturday.
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