The owner of Lyon, John Textor, argued Paulo Fonseca to stay in his role as coach after having described his ban on a touch line of almost nine months as “clearly too serious”.
Fonseca received the sanction yesterday after pushing his head on the face of referee Benoit Millot in the Sunday match with Brest.
The Portuguese approached the angry official while the Var examined a Brest complaint for a penalty. The kick was not given, but Fonseca had already lost control and was duly sent.
The Professional Football League announced its sanction yesterday, in power Fonseca will not be able to access the canoe, the locker room of officials, and to participate in all the official functions before, during or after the matches on November 30.
It is also forbidden to go to the team’s locker room, the field, the tunnel and the corridors leading to these areas until September 15.
Lyon immediately said they would appeal, but there was also speculation that the club would seek to reduce links with Fonseca despite the fact that it was not appointed until the end of January.
Paulo Fonseca presented the Textor support
The Textor, however, threw his support behind the former boss of AC Milan, who had his 52nd anniversary yesterday.
Writing on Instagram, the American said: “Happy birthday Paulo.
“I am standing with you today and always. You made a mistake, your apologies were sincere and your punishment clearly too severe.
“You are the right man for OL and we persevere. Come on OL! “”
Fonseca will be on the key line in Romania tonight
Lyon is sixth at Ligue 1 and will face Steaua Bucharest in Romania this evening during the first stage of their round 16 match in the Europa League, a match in which Fonseca can exercise its functions normally because its sanction currently applies to national games only.
Speaking on Monday, Millot said he was shocked by the aggressive approach of Fonseca.
The manager told the team: “He jumped on me with an intimidating attitude, and I decided to send it directly. He continued to become uncontrollable.
“He had an even more intense attitude, trying to wear a blow, in fact. A whim. I did not even have time to announce the final decision, which turned out to not grant a penalty. There seemed to be a slight contact of the nose, to be precise. »»
Longoria also in hot water
The actions of Fonseca were hot in the heels of the president of Marseille, Pablo Longoria, being struck by a ban on 15 games for comments he made about referee Jeremy Stinat.
Longoria opposed Stinat to be appointed to the Marseille match against Auxerre, that they lost 3-0, accusing the “real corruption” after defender Derek Cornelius was sent.
