Football: Marseilles win ends in brawl
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Your support makes all the difference.A FIGHT broke out as the players left the field after Marseilles clinched a Uefa Cup final place with a late penalty in a 1-1 draw at Bologna last night.
The Marseilles captain, Laurent Blanc, converted a twice-taken penalty four minutes from time to put Marseilles through on away goals after a 0-0 draw in France in the first leg. Bologna, unhappy at losing the advantage given them by their captain, Michele Parramatti, in the first half, had Giancarlo Marocchi sent off two minutes from the end for a crude tackle on Titi Camarra.
After the final whistle, the French players taunted the home crowd on their way to the dressing-room prompting a Bologna player to throw a punch at an opponent. Other players joined in, stewards and riot police ran the full length of the pitch to intervene and it appeared some Bologna fans vaulted the railings behind one of the goals to join the fracas. Calm was restored after about three minutes of chaos in which around 40 people were crowded around the entrance to the players' tunnel, some throwing punches.
The bad blood between the two sides was evident at the post-match news conferences, angering Bologna's coach, Carlo Mazzone, who refused to answer questions about the fracas, saying: "Do you want to talk about bullshit or do you want to discuss the match?"
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