Tuesday 6 March 2018 09:58, UK
Nantes manager Claudio Ranieri has criticised Marseille's Dimitri Payet for failing to return the ball after two of his players had been injured in their Ligue 1 clash on Sunday, leading to a last-gasp equaliser at the Stade Velodrome.
Former Leicester boss Ranieri was left incensed by the actions of Payet, who resumed play without returning the ball to Nantes after it had originally been kicked out to allow Nicolas Pallois and Ciprian Tatarusanu to receive treatment.
When play restarted, former West Ham man Payet continued the attack, with Florent Thauvin scoring from a corner soon after to grab a 1-1 draw for the hosts.
Ranieri said after the game: "I think Dimitri Payet has to return the ball in the end, just before I told him to. I wanted to see if he was going to give the ball back. He should have returned the ball. It's football.
"There are players, classes, gentlemen, and then there are others who keep the ball instead of returning it, but again, it's football."
Payet then responded to Ranieri's comments, saying he is a fair player and insisting the Nantes players went down without any contact.
"I am a fair-play player," Payet said. "I do not push too much. When I saw the goalkeeper and the defender go down without contact, at some point, we have to stop. We have played and scored.
"Now we are going to say that that is justice."
Marseille are third in the Ligue 1 table with 10 games left to play this season, 16 points ahead of seventh-placed Nantes.
