It might not have been quite as iconic an image as Graeme Souness planting a Galatasaray flag in the middle of Fenerbahce’s park, but Lyon attacker Nabil Fekir learned the hard way it’s best not to send a spark towards a powder keg.
There were four minutes left of OL’s derby match with Saint Etienne on Sunday night when he scored his team’s final goal in a 5-0 rout. In celebration, he ran up to a section of home ultras, took his shirt off and showed them his name in a style done by Lionel Messi towards Real Madrid fans at the Bernabeu previously.
But not even the feeling in El Clasico could make the passion at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Fekir, who was linked with Everton in the summer and will no doubt be a target for Premier League clubs in the next six months, was acting as the provocateur and got a reaction doubtless greater than he would have envisaged.
The Sainte supporters spilled towards the field, furious at the player’s actions as a tense game that had been building in the media for days beforehand finally boiled over.
Before any serious damage could be done, riot police were at the scene to block the path of supporters towards the pitch, yet Lyon’s players scampered to the tunnel and the match was halted for half an hour, with the closing minutes played out in front of a largely empty ground.
Doubtless fearing for the safety of the 24-year-old, he was replaced.
Earlier, there had been a delay in play as home fans had thrown smoke bombs onto the field in what were unwelcome scenes in Ligue 1’s showcase match of the weekend.
Fekir, the undoubted star of this Lyon side, showed exactly why with a stunning playmaking display. At times, though, he had been perceived to have mocked the home team, toying with their defenders and was on the wrong end of a violent challenge from Leo Lacroix early in the second half that saw the defender dismissed.
Having suffered a serious knee injury in August 2015, Fekir, who was lucky to escape another major problem after Lacroix’s horrific lunge, wanted to make his point by humiliating the home side. He danced around their challenges, played with the ball and incensed the crowd during what is France’s most hotly contested derby match.
👕 Show shirt to crowd
😡 Angry fans invade pitch
Nabil Fekir's celebration sparks Saint-Etienne crowd trouble...
Although he was sanctioned by match referee Clement Turpin with a booking for removing his shirt after scoring the fifth, there is a feeling that he could be in line for a suspension after repeatedly kicking the hornets’ nest. The League have confirmed they will look at the incident.
“It got a bit too intense,” he admitted after the game, though he equally argued that he did not “regret his gesture”.
“I celebrated as I wanted. There was no ulterior motive and not malice. Maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do, we were 5-0 up, but it’s still football.”
Even before the game, the Lyon-born player had sought to inflame OL’s neighbours.
“We need the squad to be calm because we have a lot of qualities,” he said at the pre-match press conference. “I think we’re better than them, if we work as a team and are aggressive.”
The response of the home side may have initially been measured in the media, but on the field they clearly felt they had a score to settle with the cocky No.18.
“It’s not necessarily the best team on paper who wins the derby, but the one with the greatest determination and the one that is most combative,” home goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier argued.
Certainly, Lacroix went over the score when challenging Fekir, though he would argue that he was simply responding to the goading of his opponent, both on and off the field.
And the vicious circle of blame is set to continue, with Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas criticising the home supporters after they threw objects at his side’s bus as it approached the ground. And then the game had to be paused when it was just seconds old as Sainte fans threw smokebombs on the field.
“Too many incidents before and during the match, with the dramatic aggression of the Saint-Etienne players,” he tweeted. “Nabil is a hero.
“The problem with Saint-Etienne is that it’s never their fault. The attempt to invade the park after the fifth goal or the smoke bombs – these things were not Nabil. We cannot exaggerate. His was a gesture of joy.
“Stop denouncing Nabil and punish the real wrongdoers!”
Lyon coach Bruno Genesio was at least able to put the action in perspective.
“It was a shame … it spoiled the evening a little,” he told Canal+. “We wouldn’t have liked it if had been the other way around.
“You have to know how to stay modest. We have the right to celebrate because it was a historic result, especially away from home. But not like that.”
Lyon are now liable to be without their best player for at least one match, while Fekir will have learned a lesson he will not forget – especially when he next returns to Saint Etienne.
