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Over the past five years, the president of the French champions club, Jean-Michel Aulas, claims that the team's players were offended by the behavior of their opponents in the Champions League round of 16 match against "Roma".
"There were many tense situations among the players in that match, as well as several instances of unsportsmanlike conduct and verbal insults," said J.M.Aulas about the match where there were even 11 yellow cards shown (8 to "Roma" players). "However, I would like to add that some of the opponents' players apologized after the match for their insults, which were similar to the ones Zinedine Zidane heard in the World Cup final."
The French press reports that the 23-year-old Italian capital club's defender Daniele De Rossi and the official representative of "Roma" Daniele Baldini apologized to the Frenchman Eric Abidal for the racist insults made during the match.
The "Lyon" star from Brazil, Juninho, also spoke out about the refereeing.
"Philippe Mexes, at the beginning of the match, trying to take the ball, didn't even touch the ball, but tackled the opponent's legs, he should have been sent off the field," said Juninho. "French clubs are not respected as they should be in the Champions League. This was evident on Tuesday when we played against "Lille", or when we played two years ago against Eindhoven's "PSV".
"Tonight we realized that it continues to this day. We are not held to the same standard as Spanish, English or Italian teams," expressed his dissatisfaction the Brazilian.
"I was scared already in the first minutes of the match," shared his impressions after the match "Lyon" coach Gerard Houllier. "It seemed like there was a bounty on Juninho's head. He was upset after the match."
However, G.Houllier was pleased with the result achieved and said it was the best performance of the team under his leadership since the beginning of this year.
