American Marconi Wireless News - Referee 'corruption' accusations leave Marseille president Longoria facing punishment

"This is real corruption," Spaniard Longoria railed after the match at the Stade de l'Abbe-Deschamps, in which he and other Marseille officials felt their team were unfairly treated by the referee.

Marseille, who lie second in Ligue 1, were already trailing 1-0 in Burgundy when they had a penalty claim dismissed by referee Jeremy Stinat just before half-time.

The visitors then had Canadian defender Derek Cornelius sent off for a second yellow card shortly after the hour mark, before conceding two further goals late on to slump to a disappointing defeat.

It was not just Longoria, with Fabrizio Ravanelli, the Italian former Marseille striker now working in an advisory role for the club, labelling the decisions "scandalous".

"All of France saw that Stinat's decisions were a nonsense. It was scandalous refereeing," Ravanelli told journalists.

"He gave a red card for an unacceptable second yellow card. He played the ball," Ravanelli added of Cornelius, although the defender clearly caught Auxerre's Hamed Junior Traore in the torso with his knee on the follow through.

"We are not accepting this anymore. We ask for respect and fair refereeing."

French Football Federation chief Philippe Diallo hit back at the comments made by Longoria and Ravanelli in a statement on Sunday.

"I strongly condemn the comments made by Marseille directors about French refereeing in general," said Diallo, with the club having already protested against the appointment of Stinat as the match whistler ahead of the game in Auxerre.

"To question the integrity of our officials is defamatory, unacceptable and reprehensible," Diallo added, saying that the comments "seriously damage the image of our league".

Broadcaster DAZN reported on Sunday that Stinat had been the victim of "an intrusion into his home" and that his cars had been vandalised.

Marseille had been unhappy at Stinat's appointment as the referee had been the fourth official in their French Cup defeat by Lille last month, after which their sporting director Medhi Benatia was handed a three-month suspension for incidents on the touchline.

"No Mr. Longoria, French referees are not corrupt! Losing a match does not justify calling into question the integrity of French referees," said SAFE, France's refereeing union, in a statement.

S.Gregor--AMWN