A moment of confusion with significant consequences. This Saturday, January 10, while Angers and Toulouse were preparing to decide between themselves during a penalty shootout in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France, Marc Bollengier, the referee of the match, offered an astonishing moment captured by the BeIN Sports cameras.
At the time of the draw supposed to determine in which order and on which side of the field the two teams would draw, the 34-year-old official simply… confused his right and his left. After assigning the blue color of his piece to the left part of the field and yellow to the right part, the latter forgot his own instructions. “It’s blue, that means it’s over there,” he ordered, pointing to the wrong side of the lawn.
“No, I said blue there”
“No, you said there,” Haris Belkebla, the Angevin captain, tried to protest. “No, I said blue there,” assured Bollengier, definitive and not realizing his mistake.
Consequence: instead of shooting in front of its kop located in the Coubertin stand, the SCO struck on the other side, ending up losing the penalty shootout following the misses of Lanroy Machine and Marius Courcoul. Note that Belkebla, designated Angers’ fourth shooter, did not tremble to convert his penalty. Insufficient to avoid defeat and elimination for his team, while Toulouse will see the round of 16 of the competition despite this small dispute during the toss.
