Nantes call for referee who aimed a kick at player to be banned

Official Tony Chapron appeared to lash out at Diego Carlos during the game with Paris Saint-Germain.

Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - FC Nantes vs Paris St Germain - The Stade de la Beaujoire - Louis Fonteneau, Nantes, France - January 14, 2018   Nantes' Diego Carlos is shown a red card by referee Tony Chapron   REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
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Nantes president Waldemar Kita has called for Tony Chapron to be banned for six months after the referee lashed out at Diego Carlos during Sunday's clash with Paris Saint-Germain.

The official aimed a kick at the Nantes defender while he was on the floor after the pair accidentally collided in injury time at the Stade de la Beaujoire.

Carlos was shown a second yellow card, apparently for dissent, and the hosts were left baffled by the incident.

"I received 20 SMS from all over the world telling me that this referee is a joke," Kita told L'Equipe.

"What do you want me to say to you? If I talk too much, I will be summoned by an ethics commission. We have no right to say anything.

"It's still scandalous to see that. We give a red card to a player who did nothing. Where are we? He has to go back to school.

"Chapron has to rest and get a massage, it works like that now, we cannot see him. I'm waiting for the green light, otherwise I'll be killed. It's amateurism.

"Sincerely, I think he did not do it on purpose. I do not want to believe he did it on purpose.

"At least, you apologise but you do not give a red card, it's not serious.

"We still have to find a solution, because there is a problem in all this.

"It makes me laugh at the end. I have never seen that before.

"He should be suspended for six months. If we did it, we would be banned for six months."

The bizarre exchange overshadowed a seventh straight win in all competitions for PSG, Angel Di Maria's early goal enough to move them 11 points clear at the top of Ligue 1.

"When a team fights each ball for 90 minutes and fights every action to counter the opponent, I think the team has demonstrated today that we can win a match like that too, in difficulty, in suffering," PSG boss Unai Emery was quoted as saying by AFP.

"It was different from a lot of matches. It's a tough team that put a lot of pressure on us and the team kept their position to keep the ball with a lot of personality.

"In the first half, our control was clearer, with the goal and two good chances.

"But it's true that in the second half, they pushed more and it was harder for us to overcome that pressure. But I think the win is deserved."