Lyon Don’t Do Fair Play

Hi
I can see Lyon playing on if the ball is still in the penalty box, but it almost crossed the halfway line. That ball needs to be kicked out. This is going to haunt Lyon at Artemio Franchi. No one’s going to stop for anything if Fiorentina have the ball. And with Gamberini back for that game.

Max

Addiction Recovery Michigan

maybe someone already said this... but doesn't that ref ALWAYS remind you of that dude from NCIS?! maybe it's just me...

If the Italian's wouldn't have done the same thing I will eat my shorts .... twice ... while wearing them.

Actually my point was to exaggerate to show that everything is abused--even the most important things-- at some point and it's not necessary to "throw the baby out with the bath water".

Any alternative system is going to be abused.

This system works most of the time, and certainly more often than should be necessary for a football match. Just kick the thing out and you get the ball back.

Gentlemen - not much to say other than you have all shown your true colours very nicely here.

2 anti-Lyon threads from the same blogger? thats subtle.

FYI the fiorentina player hurt himself by trying to maul frederique piquionne. thats what i call poetic justice.

Ya, I bet he keeps it on his fridge and it goes something like this:
Feed the cat
Do the shopping
Read the news
Write some stuff
Hate the french
Try to take over the world

Chris has an agenda. That is awesome.

TO CHRIS:

The only reason you even put this idiotic blog up was to indulge in your favorite pasttime of francophobic bigotry and letting people come on here and express the same hatred you have. Your motives are so freaking obvious and petty and small-minded. It's a favorite hobby of yours: hating the French.

I await (with absolute futility) a blog written by you about an Italian team that demonstrates lack of sportsmanship -- I mean, it happens so RARELY, right?

You're a bigot and a moral hypocrite.

Not only that, you're thoroughly NAIVE about football: I see this kind of thing happening all the time in the game today. I've seen Chelsea do this constantly. The fact that you cherrypicked this particular game and this particular team is all about your francophobic agenda and nothing else.

I don't have a problem with it at all. How many injuries which require players to leave the game are legit in the first place. As a fan it seems like nearly every time the player just hops right back in seconds later appearing none the worse. Unfortunately, faking injury to try and influence the ref is all to common and Lyon did nothing wrong. It should be up to the referee to stop play and if he doesn't then teams should play on. Soccer is being hurt by all of the fake injuries and diving so prevalent in the game today.

I can see Lyon playing on if the ball is still in the penalty box, but it almost crossed the halfway line. That ball needs to be kicked out. This is going to haunt Lyon at Artemio Franchi. No one's going to stop for anything if Fiorentina have the ball. And with Gamberini back for that game...

Yup. He was definitely faking injury. In fact he was faking so good he was unconscious for almost a minute.

Fair Play Award should definitely go to Lyon.

Comparing these real life scenarios to football is obviously just stupid.

Fiorentina players were flopping all over the pitch, faking injuries.

Obivously, at some point bad karma is FOR THEM.

The police, ambulance, and firefighters get a lot of nonsense calls, but because the service is so important and time is critical, the service must be sent out immediately regardless of whether the request warrants it.

Every week somewhere there is an accident involving cars, some of which are fatal: so, let's ban the use of cars until safer means of transport can be found.

Every drug in production has to go to trials that may place the user's life in harm; so, let's cease the trialling of all new drugs until a better understanding of how chemicals affect the stasis of the human body is gained, however many decades or centuries that may take.

MAD, anyone can come up with an exaggerated analogy to prove their point: you must adhere to the essential principles of the argument. By escalating the analogy, you appealed to characteristics not relevant to the case at hand (such as comparing charitable services to the "treatment" of a player who most of the time doesn't need it). And the point is the word "most": as Shazback says, what happens in the worst case scenario?

What I find most disturbing, is that Zauri was so blatantly keeping all the Lyon players onside, that it was just impossible for Benzema and Piquionne not to have noticed him.

So not only were Fiorentina playing one man down, but the man down provided the "get-out-of-offside-free" card for the Lyon players. Brilliant. :/

I wonder what L'Équipe of Thursday morning put in their headlines. Anyone?

It is usual that when a team wins, they celebrate together and they did not follow the rules of the game and did not care of looser that is a bad thing and if we don’t sure if the player is injured or not, we cannot stop the game.



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Shadow Stewart

Steve... Fiorentina didn't play the ball (unless you count a header to clear the ball to the half-way line as "having the ball") after Zauri went down, and when you're facing the opposite way from a player, you can (quite understandably) not see them. Zauri blacked out, he said, and only regained conciousness when he tried to stand up, seeing Benzema run towards him. As he tried to get up, he felt the pain in his cheek, and stopped. I'm not putting all the blame on Lyon nor equating Zauri's injury with the fate of the late Foe or Puerto, but people saying that the fair play rule should be scrapped or that Lyon were "right" to play on are not realising that nobody knew then what Zauri had. Whoever he collided with didn't care a bit, Frey didn't go and check on him, the linesman didn't react... They all can be blamed. But Lyon should have, in my opinion, played the ball out. If Fiorentina were trying to buy time, the referee should have just started waiting a minute or a minute and a half for the player to come back onto the pitch. Not done the opposite and left an injured player on the pitch with the game playing.

In this situation, the referee made a bad call, and Lyon took advantage of it, in my opinion in an unsporting manner. Last season (or was it two seasons ago?) I was appalled when Kallstrom took a blow to the head against Toulouse, and not only did the referee not deem it a foul, but sent Kallstrom off for allegedly spitting at the fourth referee. This is pretty much the same case, except with a goal instead of a red card. The ref should have blown in both cases, but in both cases the team that injured a player (Toulouse two seasons ago and Lyon yesterday) were in the wrong for playing on regardless of the condition of the player they just fouled (and injured).

Well, don't go trying to discuss this on the Lyon board. I was just banned from posting there despite not saying one offensive thing. My crime? I thought that Lyon's goal was despicable.

I have read people here call all Italians cheaters and they haven't been banned despite being bigots.

Things the Lyon Blogger has lied about showing that they have as little class as their team:

1."If your assertion is that players should stop the second another player falls down, that’s just hilarious."

--This quote includes a lie that I made a statement that I didn't.
--It would be hilarious if I said that. What I said was that the Lyon team was facing the Viola goal from about the midfield line. They could have kicked it out at any time.

2."From the match video, from the moment Zauri went down, even Fiorentina players were ignoring Zauri even when they themselves had the ball."

--This quote includes the lie that the viola players ignored their own wounded.
--Actually Zauri was behind them. The ref and the entire Lyon team was looking right at him.

3."Also, MAD, it hasn’t escaped my notice that you’ve been spending your evening bashing Lyon and the French on both Ted’s and Chris’s posts. The bigoted remarks have actually been started tonight by you and others (calling the French monkeys and frogs, need I go on?). That’s a lot different than calling the Italian league corrupt. That being said, I don’t tolerate any bigoted remarks on this blog, and no bashing of French or Italians are allowed here. To criticize a game or a league is one thing, but when it crosses into racial boundaries, it’s not allowed."

--This whole section is a complete lie.
--Apparently the Lyon Blogger doesn't like the fact that I post on this page, the Fiorentina page and the Lyon page on a tolical subject. It's a crime apparently.
--Here's where the lies start: I haven't been posting against the French. I have been posting against the team. That's a posting crime apparently.
--I haven't made any bigoted remarks on any page. I have read at least two that call all Italians cheaters, though and nothing was done. Apparently NOT making racial remarks is a posting crime.
--I defy anyone to show where I made the comment about monkeys and frogs. Copy and paste it with my name on it. I dare anyone. My comments were about the game and replies to remarks about the same. Apparently it's a posting crime to post remarks and replies to remarks here.

4. "The Marseille incident, a huge embarrassment to French football, happened over 15 years ago, and both of those teams were relegated as well (as opposed to in Italy, where teams can escape with only some deducted points).'

--Milan was relegated in the early 80s for match fixing. Juve was relegated in 2006 for match fixing. More lies by the Lyon Blogger, but at this point its just drops in the bucket.
--Apparently it's not a posting crime to get your facts so wrong that the complete opposite is true. It is a posting crime apparently to point this out.

5. "You clearly have no logical argument to make, nor are you interested in reasonable, polite debate, so please stop trolling.

--This quote is a complete lie.
--The fact that everything that you have said is a complete falsehood, and the fact that I disagree with complete falsehoods, makes me a troll?
--The fact that I post references, haven't sworn at anyone in this instance or called people names also somehow means that I am NOT interested in polite debate?
--But the fact that you banned me from even replying to this message means that you are?!

That 30 second advantage is often worthless when the game is stopped during a really important play. Given a choice, unless you want to waste time, most players would prefer to keep playing. But while I do support the fair play rule, I don't agree with Lyon given all the blame. Or the ref either. It was a slow reaction on everyone's part, even Zauri's teammates and Zauri himself. If he felt he was injured so seriously, why was he trying to get up? If he stayed still and down, the play might have actually stopped.

People here are assuming that Lyon would have kept playing even if that Fiorentina player was bleeding to death all over the pitch, something that even the biggest Lyon hater can admit is not true. Basically it was a judgement call, whoever had the ball (Benzema? Ederson? Piquine?) didn't think much of it, and when no whistle went off, proceeded to shoot at the goal because that's what you're supposed to do when youre two goals down.

Last night wasn't just the Lyon players who didn't notice Zauri. Even when the Fiorentina players had the ball, they kept playing. And as some people pointed out, when the Lyon players came near the goal, Zauri looked like he was trying to stand up. You can't compare his case with that of Foe or Puerta, whosse serious condition was immediately noticed by the players around him. In Zauri's case, he went down right next to Frey, who didn't attempt to do anything until after the goal was scored. Zauri was conscious and moving around in plain view of the linesman. It's not just the Lyon players who can be accused of not obeying the fair play rule.

The "fair play" rule works...

When a player goes down injured and the "attacking" team plays the ball out, not only do they get the ball back, but they also get a numerical advantage for a short period (generally between 30 seconds and 50 seconds) because the rules clearly state that the opposition player must leave the pitch, and can only re-enter upon being asked by the referee. The rule is there because nobody (not even Dr House) can tell why someone fourty yards away is lying down. If a referee thinks a team are abusing the rule, then he is indicated to wait for longer until allowing the player that left the pitch to re-enter, and if the player doesn't leave the pitch as soon as possible, he should give the player a yellow card for unsporting behaviour. You can't say that a rule doesn't work because referees don't feel like applying it.

Five years ago Marc-Vivien Foe collapsed in the middle of the Stade Gerland whilst playing for Cameroon against Colombia. Play wasn't immediately stopped, and along with other complications that is believed to have been a cause leading to his premature death. Just last year, Antonio Puerta died, even receiving help as fast as possible. For Lyon fans to place the blame on the referee is not entirely justified. Ederson couldn't see him whilst passing the ball barely five meters in front of him? Whoever knocked heads with him didn't notice? Yes, the referee should have stopped play. But that doesn't mean that OL shouln't have stopped play. He wasn't faking (AK, I don't know about your broken rib, but what professional league where you playing in already? Was it the Heineken Cup pool games? Please inform us further, for I'm sure it's a completely relevant snippet of information) and to say that the goal is valid because he "could have been faking" is downright horrendous. What would Lyon fans have said if Colombia had gone on playing whilst Foe lied dying on the pitch? "Fair play, the ref didn't see it, and even Cameroon weren't flailing their arms about!"

The fair play rule is an informal rule, but I for one believe it to be an important rule. If players are faking injuries, the referees have the tools to dissuade them - waiting longer before allowing them to re-enter the pitch and eventually sanctioning them for unsporting behaviour. Injury time should also be added on for every injury. But scrapping the rule is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If you're asking the referee to assess (whilst play continues) if the player lying on the floor has a "serious injury" before blowing his whistle, you're expecting too much of any human being. Referees spend their time looking at the ball and the players who are tussling to play it, not players that are on the other side of them from the ball in order to perform a diagnosis.

I've noticed that some people come into the hospital who are not actually sick. They try to con drugs from the doctor. I think that to prevent such abuses they should close down all the hospitals.

I've also noticed that some people who go to soup kitchens might actually be able to feed themselves for the day. Someone is abusing that soup kitchen, so we should close it down.

Laughing gas when used responsibly can be used to spare dental patients pain when under the knife, but used irresponsibly it is used as a recreational drug. I say lets get rid of that too.

Coffee has long been abused by office speed freaks. I say, it's high time to get rid of that drug, as it's being abused.

Football matches are just a way for drunk, violent English people to go to the main land of Europe, destroy a stadium and ruin dozens of family's lives every so often. I say we ban football in England, because they abuse it.

...hmm I can't think of anything else that's pretty useful that doesn't get abused on occasion that you knee jerk reactionaries can't ban before you take your ire out on something as little as fair play...

or are we just banning things we think that Italians abuse?

Yes, i agree with you.

The so called "fair play" rule is scandalously abused and that is why it should be eliminated. How is it fair play to fake an injury just to get the team to play the ball out and lose a possible advantage? I know Zauri was not guilty of this but it happens all the time. The players should not have any responsibility on this matter. It should be a referee decision to either stop play or let the game continue.

Play the ball out. It's not a tough decision. Fair play is fair play, you'll occasionally lose a scoring chance to it. Such is life.

scandalous.

Mimo and foureyedkoko: it's not as simple as that, though. Maybe the ref saw the incident and decided that the challenge wasn't worth stopping play for. Maybe the Lyon players made the decision that Zauri was faking it. Maybe it wasn't Lyon's decision to make, and maybe it was. It's also not fair to the other teams in the countless times when players do fake an injury. Look, Lyon might have been in the wrong, and they might have been justified: maybe I'm being a little harsh on Zauri and Fiorentina. Who knows. But my point still is that it must be the ref who makes the decision, and that it shouldn't always be an unconditional pause of play.

you don't know if the player is injured or not, that's why you stop the play, even if he only broke his nail or something, he was down before the ball was in the middle of the field, surely that's not a goal scoring opportunity so why not stop the play there? but anyways it has nothing to do with the referee, its the player's own moral sense, lyon players decided that 1 point was more important than a fellow sportsman. and to whoever keeps saying that he should just have walked off the pitch, my guess is that the goal would have been allowed anyways because Zauri would have be walking around the field...

Yeah, but there's a difference between: "the players should always put it out" and "the referee should make the decision and be cautious." By all means, if the ref thinks it's serious, then stop the play, but if he/she thinks not, then play should continue. In this case, Zauri was on his knees watching the goal go in for f's sake! Maybe the Lyon players didn't know that and were being dicks, but then again maybe not: who's to say.

I agree that erring on the side of caution is, for example:
- not allowing the goal when a man is down injured in the penalty box, versus allowing the attack.
- not giving a pk if there is a debatable foul in the box, rather than award pk.
And the refs generally do err on the side of caution by being 80% more likely to give a foul in box against the attacking side than the defending side.
Why not in this case?

The injured player was right next to the GK in the line of vision of the Lyon attacking players. So to say nobody saw it is lame. And to say that the player should get up and walk off etc doesnt make sense either- you cant defend Lyon's actions based on the ideal footballing warrior who walks off in any circumstance other than both knee caps broken and bloody. And I dont think that it is a coincidence that it was the same horrendous referee from the Italy-Horse Face goal from the Euros. It seems like he has declared himself as the vigilante who "cleans up" injury faking among players.

They should have sticked to the code of kicking it out of bounds.

Well, Di Canio did the right thing. Why couldn't Lyon?

"When have you seen a player get up and walk off the pitch, no matter how big or little the injury?"

That's the point is it not? The players don't have to if they know they can just lie on the ground regardless of the "injury".

"I mean all those players who dislocate their shoulders...it’s not their legs, why can’t they walk off?!"

I get your point: the argument of how would anyone know the severity of the injury without stopping play regardless. But, why then not let the referees make the decision instead of the players, and let him/her err on the side of caution. Players who go down still get the benefit of the doubt, but now fairly (if that's what you think referees are capable of -- but that's another argument).

woah, i must be blind. now I see it, it was definitely offside.

How long had the player been on the ground?

Oh. Well, you could argue that he was faking it: a fractured cheekbone is not life threatening. Different sport, but I've dislocated a rib playing rugby -- that hurt like hell -- but I still got up and played out the half. There's no reason why Zauri couldn't get up and signal that he wanted subbing.

Fiorentina only put their arms up after the Lyon players were well "offside" apparently to signal the linesman, not to protest. I agree that it looks like at least some of the Lyon players don't notice the man down until they are into the box, and then are you really going to kick it out when you are clearly about to score? The ref should have blown the whistle when the ball was initially cleared, at the beginning of the clip. Or if Fiorentina had actually noticed their own man down, they could have been appealing / waving their arms at the same time, when the ball was back near the half line.

It seems like nobody really noticed until the goal scoring opportunity was there. It's hard to say if Benzema was so clearly past the "last man" because he saw a defender down or if he thought the defender at the bottom of the screen was playing him on.

lyon were poor sports not put the ball out, and the ref is a moron for leaving a player injured for a minute without blowing the whistle to stop play.

Well, italian's do pwn the french...

I always hated this unwritten rule... because 9 out of 10 times, the player isnt actually hurt, they just try and waste time...

thats why you play until you hear the whistle... and plus italians are notorious for ridiculous diving and time-wasting tactics....

they had thier arms up ages before!

In all fairness to Lyon, it actually looks like they didnt know the player was down until the moment they were in the Fiorentina box, at which time it was obviously too late to decide to put the ball out.

Even the Fiorentina guys dont know it - look at the defender trying to play offside! If they really knew their player was down before the attack, they would have been motioning well before, but they only protested at the very last moment.

Actually, I was being sarcastic, since it turns out that he wasn't faking and I find any defence of what Lyon did hilariously funny in any case.

Players put the ball out, because one day it may be them out there on the ground with injury and needing treatment. And they hope that their pain might be sufficient to call a brief halt to the proceedings so that they can carted out of the way.

The fact that Lyon took advantage of the players pain and injury... which I am sure he somehow caused himself just to buy a minute or two for his team to "abuse the system"... from around midfield to score should mean that no French player will ever get the benefit of that "agreement".

I watched the game - he was down in the corner before after a clash of heads, so a good minute or so. Viola also were pretty fair rest of the game, there were few cards.

That's a fair amount of time to be down for, but it's not unheard of for players to fake it and stay down for that long (and worse, even be stretchered off). MAD's points still stand for me...

lol...didnt they put the ball "out of play" anyway? albeit in the net :P

What difference does it matter how long he was down for, he was just faking, right? Abusing the system, as someone said.

And besides, duration on the ground is not necessarily an indicator of severity, or so I've heard...

frey did a good job of breaking up the altercation after

John: I've got nothing against him personally, just what he personifies: I call him Gamblo...oh no wait, that's already taken...
Alessio: yeah, but duration is not necessarily an indicator of severity. Then again, how long was he down for?

Any way you look at it, Fiorentina loses. It was the ref's fault (it's hard to believe he didn't blow the whistle) but if you're lyon, in front of goal, tell me you would seriously give up that chance, just to be nice. I'm almost certain any of you would have kicked the ball in unless the play was stopped by the ref.

But there's no way that goal would have been onsides, were it not for the guy on the back line with the broken cheekbone. And SwissJan/Ak: He broke his cheekbone. C'mon.

Alessio: was that reply for me? I'm talking generalities here: I'm not suggesting that Fiorentina were doing anything unsportsman-like without watching the game. As far as this game is concerned though, is there a clip of the moment Zauri went down? If it looked innocuous, then I'd have to definitely side with Lyon on this one.

The solution is easy.

Next time a French player goes down, the ref will have to shoot people to stop the game for him to get treatment. If the player gets trampled or kicked because of continuing play, then everyone can blame Lyon for their "courtesy".

Lets see if that will improve the eyesight of at least 10 people including the referee all facing the Italian on the ground.

Kirby: if the referees are doing their job properly, then the scenario you suggest should not correlate with the refusal to stop play for "small" injuries. Regardless of whether the player was treated immediately or not, the players will still know that what was unacceptable before is still unacceptable now.

jan, the thing is you cant tell. but you should always do the "fair" thing and put the ball out in case the player is truly and seriously hurt.

Look, I don't want to offend a certainly inclined section of people here, but it's fair to say that there is an element of histrionics involved in modern football. When you place judgements like whether play should be stopped on the fair play of both teams, it will leave the system open for abuse; and more so: it has been abused. I think it's time to stop treating players like the slightest touch will kill them.

A broken cheekbone! Not a broken leg or something?
I know it hurts but what's the point of lying down when you can just get up, get off the pitch gesturing towards the linesmen of ref?
It is not disgusting - players are used to fakers, how can they tell when one fakes or not?

ak, thats true but at the same time the dangerous tackle still will happen. i know if i was playing a sport and someone puts down my friend i will be the first person to try to get some sort of retribution for my friend. now apply my friendship factor to footy matches

Feigning an injury and exploiting the good will of the other team violates all principles of fair play as well - not referring to this case of course. So when it comes to all our morals getting thrown overboard, it's just about how we do it.

I'd let the referee decide in all cases, because they are much hated already, have no lobby, are losers etc. Then Fiorentina fans could hate the ref instead of getting some good old bad Italy vs France vibes going.

I agree with you but the way people react to it disgusts me also because I've met people in real life who actually feel hatred for another country - the media is certainly responsible for this. Anyways, I'm off to bed. Let the debate be objective, otherwise let it end here.

kirby: not necessarily -- the refs still have the ability to punish dangerous tackles.

jan, you're acting like this sort of thing is going to erupt in the 3rd world war... lighten up and realize that teh media's job is to spark interest and conflict in order to sell papers. people with common sense wont get violent off of thing like this.

Bah, what I believe is that had this been Lyon-Basel instead of Lyon-Fiorentina there wouldn't have been a post about the goal.

Let's say professional interest in media's distortion of news and attempt to provoke one's fellow countrymen against another nation.

ok fine then players we'll start rolling on the ground when the other team appears to score or have a glorious opportunity to score.
Some players will be grateful to have a further tool to roll in the mud and ruin the game further.

that ditto was agreeing with chris' comment

^^^ditto

If Gazzetta's rubbish - I tend to agree - then why read it? Simple solution.

if we do away with this "unwritten" rule i could see football getting alot nastier due to a lack of respect amoung players. now we dont want that do we?

The gazzetta users are rubbish and so are the journalists (not all of them, some are very objective and open). Anti-France is an everyday topic, if you're an intelligent being you don't want to receive that kind of comparison.

I agree with Ak - it looks as if football players have the weakest bodies in the entire human world. I've played entire games with bad injuries.

not at all. i'm just set in my ways. if my opinion mirrors that of the gazzetta then hey, the gazzetta is smart ;)

Quite frankly, I'd welcome the "scrapping" of this particular unwritten rule: it's been abused so many times that it's time for the refs to stop babying the players. So he broke his cheekbone. Boo-hoo. He can still walk can't he? I know a fair few friends that have had worse injuries than that and gotten up.

kirby - what a deep comment, are you a gazzetta user?

and all this after Lyon were the recipient of some outrageous refereeing decisions this weekend in Ligue 1. i made a joke about Aulas selling his soul to Satan once, maybe i was right?...

italians pwn the french

Written rules pwn unwritten rules.

i can't believe anyone would take lyon's side on this. the player was down and according to fair play when that happens you kick the ball out and allow him treatment. And also if he wasn't down on that play there would have been three, yes count them, three lyon players offside so the argument about them being onside is just dumb if you watch the replay.

i think in europe us italian supporters will always defend one another.

I just watched the highlights and it looks as if Lyon dominated the game. Fiorentina scored because Boumsong and Bodmer were dreadful.

last i check, a ref had a brain, two eyes and a whistle.

if he felt the player was truly hurt, he could have blown the whistle. i get he was injured, but the linesman was there - no whistle, the ref was there - no whistle.

Lyon were down by two at home, saw a player down, saw whistle has gone off, insticts take over.

I dont want people to believe that it was a dirty play and that we are bad club.

@mele419 - now you know why i hate ignoramouses like you.....lol

Fg, you know I said that about Serie A to yank Chris's chain and make him defend Fiorentina.

(That was fun.)

such a shame that people like to try to justify unacceptable behaviour. Lyon was wrong for not putting the ball out and the ref was wrong for not stopping play. the viola were screwed and deserved the win, its as simple as that.

On Gazzetta people are already rambling with their anti-french propaganda, I can't believe the way news is manipulated sometimes. France-Italy rivalry is getting worse and worse, turning into hatred it seems: such stupidity!

The fact that the player was actually injured is irrelevant because none of the other players can know that. Teams should never play the ball out of play when their is a man down. It is stupid because overwhelmingly the player is faking it and just buying time. Only the ref should be able to stop play. Fiorentina are unfortunate the ref didn't stop play. The Lyon players should have no blame placed on them. And this has nothing to do with Serie A of Ligue 1. It happens in every league with players faking injuries.

It doesn't seem to be that they would've been offside anyway.. So it's completely fair.

Guys try to think about it though. Your team is 2-0 down with 15 minutes left you have a great chance you can't stop for every single player who's on the ground. A player might fall and get up after 15 seconds, you can't stop the game for everyone. If you stop the game and he gets up immediately you just lost a great chance to score.
I think the referee should decide - there has been great talk of it recently, fix a rule!

My point is, there is absolutely no way for players on the field to know whether a player is injured or faking. They tend to go with past experience. This is Italy-Netherlands all over again.

And the number of times the ball is played out for no injury at all has gotten ridiculous. I see no problem whatsoever with what Lyon did, especially since it really didn't look like most of the players saw him until the play was well underway.

And Fiorentina not giving up a penalty means nothing.
That's a totally separate issue.

and people ask me why I hate french people.

"Fiorentina were lucky not to give up a penalty for a handball in the penalty box in the first half, so I consider the goal totally fair."

Because penalty conversions are 100%?

Not just subbed, they're reporting he broke his cheekbone. (That hurts a bit.)

regardless of your opinion of serie a teams, he was subbed off after, meaning he was not faking. so laurie, your comment is more or less useless in this situation.

as if Italian and french football fans need another incident to get worked up about...

not cool lyon. you probably not going to get out of the group stage because of this. karma is a bitch...

Its certainly the talking point. There was alot of shouting, particuarly from Gilardino afterwards.

Oh, please. It's not like Serie A teams are above faking injury to abuse the Fair Play rule. This time it came back to bite them. Boohoo.

Well that unwritten rule shouldn't exist. It should be up to the head referee to decide whether play should be stopped when a player is donw. 75% of the time a player is down he is faking and it forces a ridiculous stoppage of play. If the ref doesn't stop play neither should the players.