MARSEILLE’s start to the new Ligue 1 season got off to the worst possible start last weekend.
And Roberto De Zerbi ‘s troops’ frustrations at their 1-0 defeat to Rennes led to a dressing room melee after the final whistle.
Reporters in the mixed zone at the Stade Rennais heard the ruckus in the away dressing and are said to have heard De Zerbi’s translator lambast the players.
He said: “The others beat us on the pitch, and we come in here and fight among ourselves.
“You know what that means? That we have small balls.
“In Marseille, we need to have big ones.”
Adrien Rabiot ‘s criticism of Jonathan Rowe’s performance, according to La Provence, is said to have lit the blue touch paper.
England Under-21 international Rowe is said to have taken so much exception to Rabiot’s comments that he SLAPPED the former Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder.
Chaos is said to have then ensued, with De Zerbi and club sporting director Mehdi Benatia having to stop the fracas.
Rowe, 22, is said to have reignited the brawl by going after Rabiot again after initially leaving the scene to get on the team bus.
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Benatia said of the incident: “There, normally, you always have two or three guys who come and separate things, that’s what some tried to do.
“After the coach arrives, normally you calm down. […] Not here, we started with a physical confrontation, punches.
“We have a kid (Darryl Bakola) who, unfortunately, at that moment, has a kind of vagal malaise, who falls to the ground.
“All that in a locker room, it’s a scene of chaos, I’ve never seen that.
“It can get out of hand, but you can’t get to a physical attack, a punch in the mouth, and security coming to separate you… But where are we? We’re here to play football .”
De Zerbi said of the fracas: “I ask you this: what happens if, at your workplace, two people, two employees, two workers, two lawyers, get into a fight?
“It was a bar fight, in front of the sporting director, in front of the coach, with a teammate on the ground (Darryl Bakola, who was suffering a medical emergency).
The Italian added: “It’s true that no teeth were broken during the fight, but it was a fight like I’ve never seen in all my years in football.
“For the first time in my career, I didn’t know what to say or what to do.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I come from the streets, I’m used to fights.
It was a fight like I’ve never seen in all my years in football.”
Roberto De Zerbi
“But I’ve never seen anything like this. The club’s bodyguards were trying to separate them.
“Normally they’re supposed to protect us from others, not from ourselves.”
Both Rabiot and Rowe were suspended for their respective part in the brawl and have been put up for sale.
But the former Brighton boss De Zerbi insists Rabiot wouldn’t be on the transfer list had it not been for comments made by his agent and mother, Veronique.
De Zerbi continued: “We decided to suspend the two players from the squad while we waited to see if there would be any genuine contrition (from the players).
“On Monday, when we communicated our decision to the players, it was a temporary measure, but the situation escalated, not because of Marseille, but because of those around them.
“Adrien is still a good guy. I think his entourage mishandled the aftermath of Rennes.
“If there had been any regrets, I think things would have returned to normal.”
