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The initial reaction during the match has not changed one iota with the benefit of hindsight: the decision taken by Mr. Letexier to send off Wylan Cyprien in the 75th minute remains “incomprehensible”.  Before leaving the Allianz Riviera, the man at the centre of the controversy, his coach and his captain stopped to discuss the scene that marred the rest of the evening.

“I passed forward, I thought that I could go and start a dangerous attack and I received contact from my right which wasn’t given as a foul, because there was advantage. With the frustration, what was at stake and the supporters, I asked  him (François Letexier) if there wasn’t a foul. He came over to me, gave me a second yellow and explained to me that my gesture was too vehement.” Incredulous as he left the field, Wylan remained so in the mixed zone. “We spoke about it again, I said to him that I hadn’t lacked respect, that I hadn’t insulted him. He maintains that my reaction was more vehement than the others. I don’t know if he got it wrong, but in any case, I know that his decision had a major impact. I am not saying that we would have won or drawn. But everything was going well, I think that he could have reflected a little more. But there are no problems with him, he has already reffed my games at least ten times, it has always gone well. But this evening, I don’t understand.”

”The referee wasn’t right”

“I still can’t understand the referee’s explanations, declared Patrick Vieira during his press conference. This poor decision ruined our hopes for the last 20 minutes and impacted on the end of our match. His explanation? (To the journalists) You will have to ask him to comes and explain to you, I am struggling to understand. Wylan didn’t insult him, nor did he lack respect. It is incomprehensible to get out a second yellow for that. If you give a yellow for every reaction like that, it’s going to be difficult to finish a game 11 against 11. The referee wasn’t right. Hérelle’s incident? I can understand the decision a little more. Does the referee have a problem with OGC Nice? I don’t know, but several incidents have happened in our matches with him in recent years, it’s starting to get a bit too much. They will need to provide us with explanations because we are struggling to understand.”

“It’s a shame, concluded Dante. I know Wylan very well, he is a very respectful man. I think there is a level of hastiness from the referee. I asked him if he had lacked respect, he said no, but he wasn’t happy with the gesture. I think it is a shame because there are loads of players who do the same. I don’t want to say that we lost because of the referee, but he did play a huge role this evening.”