Marseille president accuses referees of corruption—then backtracks

On Saturday, Marseille suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat to Auxerre, conceding twice while down to ten men after defender Derek Cornelius received a second yellow card. After the match, club president Pablo Longoria did not hold back his frustration.

Details: The Olympique Marseille boss called the league “a shit championship” and accused referees of corruption, even going as far as to say that if Marseille were invited to the European Super League, he would accept the offer immediately.

However, Longoria later apologized, explaining that his use of the word corruption was due to a translation issue between Spanish and French, as the term carries a slightly different meaning in Spanish. He concluded by clarifying that there is no corruption in Ligue 1 and admitted that his earlier comments were unbefitting of a club president.

Reminder: Following this defeat, Marseille now trails PSG by 13 points, while third-placed Nice has closed the gap to just three points. The top two teams in Ligue 1 will face off on March 16.