Non-traditional transfer rumors of the French second division.
Tag: France
Memphis Depay scores a goal that has no business being a goal
This just isn’t fair
You know when you’re playing FIFA 17 and you accidentally hit the shoot button in some random part of the pitch and immediately think “Well, that was a waste”? That’s what Memphis Depay did to Lyon in real life against Toulouse, but he actually scored with his absurd shot.
After spinning around with the ball near the halfway line, Memphis launched a no-look shot up into the sky and when it came down, it was in the back of the net.
Here’s another angle:
That’s just cruel. Especially since Lyon won 4–0, with Memphis scoring twice. That goalkeeper has a family, man.
Lille respond to sexist banner by offering free tickets to women
Proving that sign wielding idiots don’t make Ligue 1 stadium admittance policy
During Saturday’s Ligue 1 match between Lyon and Lille, two banners were held up by someone in the Lyon end, who may or may not have time traveled there from the 1920s. One banner suggested that men remain in the stadium and one suggested that women go to a kitchen.
Why this person felt the need to waste their time making these banners instead of doing literally anything else remains unclear, but they made it onto the television broadcast of the match and captain of the Lyon women’s team, Wendie Renard, tweeted “Lyon supporters… Can you give me an explanation on that banner: the men in the stadium, the women in the kitchen? #equality”
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas responded, saying “The club will get tough and file a complaint against the creator of this banner.”
Lille went on to win the match 2–1 and on Tuesday, they came up with the best response to the banners by offering women free entry to their upcoming match against Lorient.
Not only is it a clever response from a PR standpoint, but it’s also an important one. While Lyon’s efforts to punish the perpetrator demonstrate a necessary rejection of this exclusionary sentiment, Lille’s offer goes a step further by actively trying to break down social barriers—both seen and unseen—and make women feel welcome at their ground in a gesture of positive reinforcement. A combination of Lyon’s response and Lille’s should be seen as the ideal course of action for clubs faced with similar incidents in the future.
Marco Verratti booked for “trickery”
Ligue 1 referees have apparently never seen a David Blaine special
PSG midfielder Marco Verratti was too clever for his own good when he got down on his hands and knees to head the ball back to his own goalkeeper during his side’s 2–0 win over Nantes. The Italian was booked by referee Johan Hamel for the move.
After the match, Hamel took the equally unusual measure of explaining his decision on television. From the AP:
“The player deliberately bypassed the laws of the game. This is trickery whether the goalkeeper collects the ball or not,” Hamel said on Canal Plus.
“The defender (Verratti in this case) should be punished for anti-sporting behavior. He is using improper means to get around the laws of the game. This means an indirect free kick and a booking.”
Verratti headed the ball knowing that if he used his feet, PSG keeper Kevin Trapp wouldn’t have been able to pick it up, but if “deliberately bypassing the laws of the game” is a bookable offense, then every player can be sent off in every game. After all, using your feet is deliberately bypassing rules against using your hands.
Verratti must have cut Hamel off in traffic on the way to match. It’s the only explanation for this.
Ligue 1 match abandoned after fireworks explode next to Lyon keeper
Dumb Metz fans ruin a match their team was leading
Shortly after 13th-place Metz took a 1-o lead over fifth-place Lyon at home, their fans decided things were going entirely too well and figured they should ruin everything with a bang. And so, these idiots threw a firework onto the pitch, which exploded next to Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes.
While Lopes was on the ground receiving treatment, another firework was thrown and exploded beside him. This was when match officials abandoned the game and sent everyone back to the dressing rooms.
According to Lyon, Lopes was taken to a local hospital for tests. Metz have since announced that they have identified the culprits. Severe punishments seem likely to follow.
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Cristiano Ronaldo coaches Portugal to Euro 2016 title, cements the Summer of Cristiano
After getting stretchered off in the first half of the Euro 2016 final and wiping the tear drowned moths from his face, Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t hide in self-pity — he came back out and took on a new job for Portugal: head coach. With a brace on his knee, Cristiano hobbled up and down the touchline, shouting instructions that may or may not have drowned out those of actual manager Fernando Santos.
Moth consoles tearful Cristiano Ronaldo after Euro 2016 final injury
A collision with France’s Dimitri Payet early in the first half of the Euro 2016 final left Cristiano Ronaldo with a badly injured knee. Though he isn’t normally one to receive the world’s empathy, watching him exhaust every ounce of his considerable willpower to try and continue before tearfully going off for treatment twice and eventually having to be stretchered off in the 25th minute was a genuinely heartbreaking sight. Even for one moth in particular.
Paul Pogba makes being stuck in a hotel for a month seem fun
Before France’s 2-0 win over Germany in the Euro 2016 semifinals, Paul Pogba gave the France Football Federation’s YouTube channel a look at what he does on tournament off days. After being cooped up in the team hotel for about a month straight already, you’d think there would be a lot of boredom and misery, but for Pogba it’s a lot music, dancing, and massages.
Antoine Griezmann takes a bow after proving himself to be the star of Euro 2016 on and off the pitch
So much of Antoine Griezmann’s is a response to disappointments. He was forced to move to Spain at a young age after being rejected from French clubs for being “too small” and now he’s France’s top scorer at the Euros. He was in tears on the pitch after France’s quarterfinal loss to Germany at the 2014 World Cup and at Euro 2016 he scored both goals to beat them 2-0 in the semifinals. At the Champions League final in May, he missed an important penalty for Atletico Madrid as they lost to Real Madrid and in the match against Germany he converted an important penalty to open the scoring.
France make Mesut Özil regret his pre-match banter
One of the most notable aspects of this expanded edition of the Euros is the imbalance of the knockout stage. Part of that has been down to the new structure of the tournament with 24 teams and four of six third-place finishers in the group stage advancing, and part has been big teams starting slow and smaller ones playing out of their skin. But the result was Germany battling Italy in the quarterfinals while France made easy work of Iceland.