Ligue 1 round-up: Incompetence of French referees damaging league’s status

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  • Under pressure: Stéphane Lannoy was hugely criticised after his performance in the UCL.

    Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini was in hot water in the wake of his side's first leg loss against Barcelona when he said a referee from Sweden (Jonas Eriksson) should not have been in charge of such an important game.

    His numerous critics would barely have begrudged him if he said the same thing of Stéphane Lannoy after the second leg. The French referee's catastrophic display illustrated how much officials from France have to improve before matching the continent's highest standards.

    Ligue 1 was also hit with fresh controversies as both of Sunday's headline-grabbing duels underlined the adjustment required of French referees before they are considered on par with their German, Italian, English or Spanish counterparts.

    Though thinly-veiled, the correlation between the quality of a football league and the quality of its referees does exist, and the obvious incompetence of some French referees is a key issue as Ligue 1 makes a push to expand its audience overseas.

    When FIFA announced that no French referees were selected for the World Cup back in January, French football federation president Noël le Graet did not try to hide his disappointment.

    He acknowledged the country's need for increased efforts for its referees to "reach an international level".

    As Ligue 1 pushes to become one of Europe's top leagues, its referees are also in line for an upgrade alongside players and coaches. There will be no complaints from the most esteemed of them – at least until this week.

    Stéphane Lannoy, the only French referee to have been in the list from which FIFA eventually made its choice, was panned by English and Spanish press alike after losing control of his Champions League last 16 assignment between Barcelona and Manchester City.

    Failing to award a clear penalty on Lionel Messi early on, he then refused Neymar a valid goal in the first half.

    In the second period he turned his erratic attention to Manchester City, failing to award an obvious penalty kick to Edin Dzeko and dismissing Pablo Zabaleta for contesting his regrettable decision.

    "This referee is a total clown," wrote The Guardian's Scott Murray in his match report as a volley of offensive comments from both sides came Lannoy's way after the final whistle.

    Yaya Toure did not mince his words either, saying the outcome may have been different had there been a good referee arbitrating both ties. K

    icking a referee when he is down might not be the best way to go, but the Lannoy fury has the merit to address a great issue to French football's governing body.

    The domestic league is the first to suffer from these shortcomings, as demonstrated this Sunday. The two most important games of the weekend both suffered refereeing controversies.

    In the afternoon, second-placed AS Monaco won at Olympique Lyonnais (5th) with a hard-fought 2-3 victory. With two assists and a goal, Dimitar Berbatov could have claimed to be man of the match, were it not for one man stealing him the show: referee Freddy Fautrel.

    His wayward decision-making influenced the final result with the first and last of Monaco's goals (scored by Germain and Berbatov) were both the result of an offside position.

    Later in the evening, Paris Saint-Germain confirmed their lead at the top of Ligue 1 with a 2-0 win over AS Saint-Etienne (4th), thanks to another excellent performance from Zlatan Ibrahimovic who scored a brace.

    His opening goal was however subjected to another controversy as Lionel Jaffredo's assistant initially raised his flag to signal a Blaise Matuidi offside position, bringing it down when he understood it was a Saint-Etienne player who had directed the ball towards the PSG midfielder.

    These errors generally play a much too important part in the development of the French league, and bear upon its attractiveness to foreign viewers worldwide.

    French referees are sometimes too keen to whistle and often end up making the show about themselves rather than the players. In order for Ligue 1 to succeed in its bid to become a top European league, a change of mentality is required not just for players or coaches, but also and foremost for referees.

    Key points

    – Paris Saint-Germain are edging closer to a back-to-back domestic title after retaining their eight-point lead over AS Monaco with their home win against AS Saint-Etienne. Laurent Blanc's side have lost just one of their last 40 league games.

    – Zlatan Ibrahimovic starred again in his side's 2-1 win against Saint-Etienne with two goals. He has scored ten league goals in 2014, making him the second best scorer in Europe's top 5 leagues behind Lionel Messi, who broke Barcelona's all-time goalscoring record over the weekend.

    – Although close to relinquishing their title claim, AS Monaco can console their fans with a perennial attacking mindset. Claudio Ranieri's side scored in 16 of the last 17 league games despite losing Falcao earlier in the year.

    – Dimitar Berbatov is quickly adjusting to life on the French Riviera. The former Manchester United and Fulham striker has taken three shots since joining AS Monaco, all of them on target and two resulting in goals. On Sunday, he assisted his side's two goals before scoring the winner, albeit from an offside position.

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