Thirteen minutes on hold
36th minute at Groupama Stadium. An insulting banner aimed at Saint-Etienne goes up in the North Stand. Songs of the same sort follow. The match delegate steps in, and the referee stops play.
Lyon were already 2-0 up against Rennes thanks to a brace from Ernest Nuamah (7th, 30th). The game would not restart for another thirteen minutes.
In the meantime, Corentin Tolisso and Paulo Fonseca went to the edge of the stands to try to calm the fans. Rennes headed back to the dressing room, Lyon followed. The chants carried on anyway, this time aimed at the league.
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“Then it has to happen everywhere”
In the mixed zone, Tolisso was asked what he had said to the supporters. He shut that down. “I’m sorry, but that’ll stay between the fans and me.”
On the call to stop the game, he was happy to talk. And he did not mince his words.
“I think every weekend, sometimes in stadiums, there can be chants with banners. So it’s absolutely right to stop matches. But it has to be done at every match, not just when OL are 2-0 up and there’s a banner.”
He then explained his exchange with the delegate. “I spoke to the delegate, and he told me: I want to do it this way, so I’m doing it this way.”
The delegate declined to comment and pointed reporters towards the league’s communications team.
The game did not budge
Tolisso had another gripe, a more practical one. “It froze our rhythm and we were in control. We definitely didn’t want that break.”
The stoppage changed nothing about the balance of the contest. Zachary Athekame added a third in the 49th minute, with Tolisso himself scoring the fourth in the 76th. Final score 4-0, and Lyon climb onto the Ligue 1 podium.
The incident will linger. After the violent episodes already seen at Groupama Stadium in recent months, the LFP will struggle to hide behind a simple “no comment.”
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