PARIS: Boosted by the recent arrival of Lionel Messi at Paris St Germain, Ligue 1 was attracting attention for the wrong reasons on Sunday.

The match between home side Nice and Olympique de Marseille was abandoned when Marseille refused to restart the game over safety concerns.

“The safety of our players wasn’t guaranteed,” Marseille president Pablo Longoria said.

The game had been interrupted with players leaving the field after home fans threw projectiles and invaded the pitch at the Allianz Riviera Stadium. Unverified photos on social media showed at least three players were injured.

When it was decided to restart play, with Nice 1-0 ahead through a Kasper Dolberg goal, Marseille refused to return to the field. Nice warmed up and the match was meant to restart with a Marseille corner. No visiting players were present to take the corner, the referee blew his whistle and the match was abandoned. If usual rules are applied, an automatic 3-0 victory will be awarded to Nice.

Nice supporters had already been warned against throwing objects by the stadium announcer when, with about 15 minutes remaining, Marseille midfielder Dimitri Payet was hit on the back by a bottle thrown from an area with Nice fans. Payet threw the bottle back into the crowd, prompting a significant number of Nice fans to rush the field.

Angers and new boys Clermont Foot were the only teams other than PSG to have won both their opening matches but they dropped their first points of the season on Sunday.

Angers hadn’t conceded a goal before Sekou Mara scored for Girondins Bordeaux in the 10th minute. But Romain Thomas leveled shortly before halftime and the match finished 1-1.

Substitute Elbasan Rashani scored twice in the final 10 minutes to help promoted Clermont fight back from two goals down and snatch a 3-3 draw at Olympique Lyonnais.

Lyon appeared to be cruising towards their first league win of the season after a Moussa Dembele double helped them to a 3-1 first-half lead, with Lucas Paqueta adding the other to cancel out a Sinaly Diomande own goal.

The home side missed a string of chances after the break and were punished after Swedish-born Kosovo winger Rashani pulled one back with a dinked finish and then levelled in stoppage time with a superb header.

Strasbourg and Troyes both picked up their first points of the season as they played out a 1-1 draw.

Lorient had two players sent off late on in a 3-1 loss at Montpellier, who recorded their first win of the season.

Rennes also won their first match with a 1-0 victory over Nantes, while Metz and Reims drew 1-1.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2021