France, without mercy against the “act of brutality” by Paulo Fonseca: nine months of suspension for the Portuguese

He was useless Paulo FonsecaOlympique coach of Lyon Galo, apologize in his press appearance after the league clash against the Brest. His angry protests to the referee Benoit Millot, with whom he came to face against a striking image, have ended up costing a very hard sanction of nine months of suspension by the French League Discipline Commission.

The Portuguese coach, who will not be able to sit on his bench until November 30, completely lost the papers At the end of the game that his team won 2-1 to the Brest on Sunday, corresponding to day 24 of The French ligue1 ‘.

Fonseca was expelled by the collegiate for his lit protests in the added time, and in the face to face with Benoit Millot lost his calm to the point of physically threatening him placing his forehead practically attached to that of the collegiate. The coach had to be slowed by some of his players and colleagues of the coaching staff to prevent the situation from going to more.

Already cold and realizing his mistake, Fonseca was repentant to the media: «He wanted to apologize for that gesture. I shouldn’t have done that, but football … maybe it leads us to act in ways that are not always correct. It is the truth, ”he was sincere before the microphones of Dazn.

“Intimidating and aggressive behavior”

For his part, the referee referred to a “physical intimidation” by the Portuguese in an interview with El Diario ‘L’Equipe‘. “He threw himself towards me with an intimidating and aggressive behavior, which led me to decide a direct expulsion,” Millot explained, surprised by the fact that the Lyon coach behaved like this when I was going to make a favorable decision for the Portuguese as a whole.

Logically, the elite soccer referees union in France (SAFE), immediately put on the side of Millot, denouncing in an official statement that had occurred «An act of brutality against a referee», And asking for a punishment” at the height of that act of extreme gravity. “

The hard punishment of Fonseca follows the line of the suspension of 15 games issued just a week ago against the president of Olympique de Marseille, the Spanish Pablo Longoria, for talking about “corruption” arbitral after the defeat of his team (3-0) against Auxerre.