A score of 1, “execrable” performance, L’Équipe torpedoes Stéphanie Frappart, the OL-Valenciennes referee

1 out of 10, in the newspaper L'Équipe after a football match. An “execrable” performance if we rely on the daily scale. Nathalie Frappart, the referee of the semi-final between Lyon and Valenciennes (3-0), signed a sad first in the history of the newspaper by becoming the first referee to be awarded such a rating. A final sanction for the forty-year-old who has not often been favored by this media this season: she occupies 23rd and penultimate place in the ranking of referees in Ligue 1 with an average rating of 4.45 out of 10, after eleven matches on the clock.

The refereeing of Stéphanie Frappart, experienced in major competitions since she has already managed matches in the men's and women's Champions League or the Europa League, was strongly criticized at the end of the match by bitter Valenciennes residents after the award a generous penalty after returning from the locker room after they had valiantly resisted Les Gones' attacks for a half.

The woman in black judged that the slight push on Alexandre Lacazette (51st minute of play) who fell to the ground in the process justified this decision, confirmed after viewing the images following the intervention of the video assistant. Two days after the debates around the decisions of the OM-PSG Classic, the French refereeing body once again finds itself in turmoil.

“I haven't seen the images again but it seems very light to me,” explained striker Anthony Knockaert, on the verge of tears, at the microphone of beIN Sports. I do the same thing a minute before, I throw myself at the defender, she doesn't whistle. In the surface it whistles. Because it’s a big club? I don't know." The 32-year-old left-hander invited the French referees to “ask questions”.