Marseille president Pablo Longoria has had to make a big apology after a stunning outburst.
The Spanish executive saw his side’s already dead Ligue 1 title chances comprehensively ended at the weekend as a 3-0 defeat against Auxerre gave PSG a 13-point lead.
The defeat came amid some refereeing difficulties for OM who then saw Derek Cornelius sent off and Quentin Merlin not given a penalty in their latest defeat.
Post-match, Ligue 1’s cameras inside the tunnel caught Longoria losing his head as he shouted: “S*** corruption,” and “S*** championship,” while kicking a metal shelf furiously.
An assistant noticed a camera in the tunnel and turned it away, but then Longoria grabbed it and shouted: “Corruption!” down the lens.
His reaction was roundly panned, particularly by the head of the refereeing body, and he’s now responded.
“I am very self-critical with myself, I cannot accept giving this type of image,” he told the media.
“A club president cannot behave like that. Nothing justifies the behaviour and I am not happy with myself.
“Everyone has explained to me the meaning of the word corruption in French, because in Spanish, it has a broader meaning.
“Be careful, I’m not justifying anything. But I have never in my life thought about something like money exchanges or financial transactions, I would never allow myself that.”
He added: “There are things that are not clear and that need to be improved, yes. And that’s what really annoys me.
“We need to improve a lot of things to avoid confusion, for everyone.
“Even if nothing justifies it, you have to understand how you get to this anger. My first responsibility is to defend my club.
“There have been a lot of refereeing decisions this season on which I consider that OM was disadvantaged.”
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