Ex-Arsenal player causes big fight among fans during Champions League play-off match
Former Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi was at the center of a big fight and had a run-in with a fan during Fenerbahce’s Champions League play-off win over Lyon.
Fenerbahce secured their place in the Champions League for the first time since 2008/09 with a 2-1 win (3-2 on aggregate) at the Groupama Stadium. Goals from Vedat Muriqi and Archie Brown helped them, despite Malick Fofana scoring for Lyon in the second half.
After the final whistle, tensions boiled over, with players and staff from both teams clashing on the field and in the tunnel. Guendouzi, who used to play for rivals Marseille, seemed to provoke Lyon fans by extending his arms in celebration. His teammates had to pull him away as he kept shouting “Allez l’OM” at cameras and towards the home supporters, who had been booing him all game and even threw objects at him.
There are also reports that a Lyon fan in a white tracksuit attacked Guendouzi during the chaos.
After the match, Guendouzi spoke about the rough moments, saying: “If 60,000 people are insulting your family—your mother, your children—even before the game starts, and nobody, not the referees or officials, says anything… In France, they would stop the match and tell the fans to stop. But here, for over 90 minutes, even during warm-ups, they insulted my family. It really got to me. It was complete disrespect. And if we can’t even celebrate how we want, that feels like total unfairness—it’s heartbreaking.”
Fenerbahce’s coach, Ismail Kartal, also commented on the fight at his press conference: “One of their coaches attacked Guendouzi. As a team, we all stood by Guendouzi. That’s what being a team is. They showed everyone that tonight.”
It’s not clear yet if UEFA will take any action against either club.