Former Olympique de Marseille winger Mathieu Valbuena endured a tumultuous return to his old club as he was repeatedly targeted by disgruntled home for joining Ligue 1 rivals Olympique Lyonnais at the beginning of the season.
Effigies of Valbuena were seen hanging inside the Stade V lodrome as the players appeared on the pitch for kick off. Valbuena, who spent 8 seasons with Marseille, was greeted by hostile home fans with a massive banner spread across the stadium that read, “True Marseillais only play for OM, you are nothing but a traitor.”
Things got really ugly when Marseille fans started throwing glass bottles and other missiles at the French international as he came across to take corners for his new side. The match had to be suspended for 20 minutes in the 2nd half and riot police was called in as a result of these actions.
Hostilities towards Valbuena even transcended on to the football pitch as Marseille winger Romain Alessandrini got sent off for a dangerous lunge on the French International.
There were also reports of Valbuena being physically assaulted at the airport by a couple of disgruntled Marseille ultras as he was making his way back to Lyon.
The match eventually ended 1-1 as Karim Rekik scored a late equalizer for Marseille following Alexandre Lacazette’s first half penalty.
Safe to say Marseille fans weren’t happy about Valbuena’s return last night. pic.twitter.com/TLgPFfzxE7
a Sergi Dom nguez (@FutbolSergi) . September 21, 2015
Here is a video which shows the brutal treatment received by Mathieu Valbuena from thousands of unforgiving Marseille supporters.