This archive report was first published on 23 August 2021.
On August 22, 2021, a Ligue 1 match between Nice and Olympique Marseille was abandoned in the 75th minute due to serious crowd trouble.
Nice supporters threw water bottles at Marseille players, who retaliated by hurling one back at them. The situation escalated into a full-scale brawl when some fans rushed onto the pitch.
Both teams retreated to the tunnel, and play was held up for 90 minutes before referee Benoit Bastien declared the match abandoned.
Nice president Jean-Pierre Rivere appealed to the Nice supporters for calm over the sound system during the delay, but angry Marseille players and staff refused to continue.
Marseille president Pablo Longoria stated that the club had decided not to continue with the match despite a decision by the soccer authorities that play should resume.
"The League decided that the match should continue but we decided not to because the safety of our players was not guaranteed," he said.
Longoria also mentioned that this was the second time it had happened, referencing a previous incident at Montpellier where Marseille decided to continue despite the risk to player safety.
Revere partially blamed Payet and his teammate Alvaro Gonzales for the chaos, accusing them of retaliating and Marseille staff of hitting some of the home players.
"It's disappointing that the game ended like this," he said.
"Everyone saw what happened. We can't deny that water bottles were thrown because we could all see it. What ignited the clashes was the reaction of two Marseille players who retaliated."
French daily L'Equipe reported that Marseille's Payet, Matteo Guendouzi, and Luan Peres were injured in scuffles with the Nice crowd.
