Since last season, François Letexier has had the distinction of being a privileged witness to OL’s dark hours. Three days after the cataclysm at Old Trafford (2-4 to 5-4), in April 2025, the man who had been elected best referee in the world in 2024 had despite himself been the central character in a nightmarish derby (2-1) for the Lyonnais at Geoffroy-Guichard. The reason? He had spontaneously sent off Lucas Stassin for a dangerous sole on Corentin Tolisso, before revising his judgment in an inexplicable way, via VAR images.
To punctuate this memorable evening, the Belgian striker from ASSE was the hero of this shock by scoring a double, which drove John Textor, Matthieu Louis-Jean and the entire Lyon club crazy. Rightly considering themselves aggrieved by this decision, OL once again had reason to blame François Letexier, this Sunday after their new defeat against Monaco (1-2). Again three days after the 2026 version of their shipwreck in the Europa League, this time against Celta Vigo, the Lyonnais were neck and neck with ASM (1-1) when another refereeing controversy was invited to the party, in the 68th minute of play.
Letexier’s “lunar words” against Tolisso
Maghnes Akliouche had just caused a logical penalty for a foul by Corentin Tolisso. Except that a few seconds earlier, Endrick launched a counterattack and was stopped by an unsanctioned shirt pulling from Denis Zakaria. And this decision, which resulted in the penalty for Balogun’s victory (1-2, 72nd), does not go down at all in the Lyon camp (4th in Ligue 1).
“There is this penalty which will cause a lot of talk,” Corentin Tolisso said after the match in the interview area. The VAR must at least call the referee so that he can form an opinion. I think there is a foul every day, he pulls his jersey. »
The Lyon captain tried to get an explanation from François Letexier, in vain. “I prefer not to tell you what he said to me but I found it very arrogant,” regrets the 2018 world champion. “I found his words lunar and total arrogance on his part. » In addition to his decision, Corentin Tolisso therefore blames the attitude of the 36-year-old referee.
Matthieu Louis-Jean is ironic about French arbitration
His teammate Moussa Niakhaté was more sober at the microphone of beIN SPORTS: “For us, there is clearly a fault on Endrick with a shirt pulling which inevitably annihilates a counter-attack. We wonder why he didn’t go to see the VAR. » An “unacceptable” situation for Paulo Fonseca, who immediately received a yellow card, while his assistant Jorge Maciel was excluded.
“I was suspended for nine months, I know I have to be careful and calm. But I cannot accept that the VAR does not look at the action of the foul on Endrick. We just want to have the same opportunities as other clubs. Look at the mistakes this year against Lyon, it’s incredible. » Paulo Fonseca thus puts at the center of the debate recurring arbitration decisions against him, as in Rennes, against PSG, at Paris FC and in Marseille. And his technical director Matthieu Louis-Jean fully supports him.
« There was an incident in the game which was decisive in the result of this match and it is clear that we are very angry. The referee has a negative impact on the outcome of the match. We can’t continue like this. This is not the first time, especially with Mr. Letexier. We will surely be told on Tuesday that there is an obvious error and that we will have to move on, as usual. »
The Lyon technical director assures that there is “an impact on the ranking”, with this extremely tight race for Europe behind PSG and Lens. “I don’t know what’s going on in the French championship. We don’t want to be paranoid but we still ask ourselves questions, because it’s a lot…” he even says. A speech that Corentin Tolisso readily agrees with.
“If we also have to fight against the refereeing body…”
“I don’t want to say that there is something against Olympique Lyonnais but when we see all the refereeing errors, and from the first days, I don’t know. » Before concluding: “We must fight against ourselves and be more efficient. But if we also have to fight against the refereeing body, it will become very difficult. »
Our file on OL
A legitimate rant, but which can be qualified in view of the red card that Nicolas Tagliafico would have deserved to receive much earlier this Sunday (65th and not 89th). And especially OL’s black streak (eight consecutive games without a victory), for which French refereeing cannot be held responsible.
Leave a Reply