French FA disavows Stéphanie Frappart and Ruddy Buquet over controversial Anthony Rouault tackle on Lyon’s Khalis Merah | OneFootball

The French FA’s Direction Technique de l’Arbitrage – France’s equivalent to the Premier League’s PGMOL – has confirmed that Rennes centre-back Anthony Rouault should have been sent off for a studs-up challenge on Lyon midfielder Khalis Merah during Les Rouge et Noir’s 3-1 home win against Les Gones. In the 19th minute of the game, when Lyon were already 1-0 up courtesy of Corentin Tolisso’s header, Rouault tackled Merah in the right calf, and his foot slid into his ankle.

In the aftermath of the game, Lyon’s Sporting Director Matthieu Louis-Jean was adamant that Rouault should have received a red card for this, which meant Rennes would have been forced to trail Lyon for more than an hour. Instead, Rouault was allowed to keep his place, and he even restored parity with ten minutes remaining as Lyon were down to ten men following Tyler Morton’s sending off.

The DTA has confirmed that Louis-Jean was right, thus disavowing Ruddy Buquet and most notably Stéphanie Frappart, who was on VAR duty. “This punishable action clearly endangered the physical integrity of the player. Consequently, the offending player should have been sent off for committing a gross foul and the intervention of the video assistant referee was expected.”

GFFN | Bastien Cheval