Riolo slams El Mourabet's red card that 'killed' OM-Strasbourg (4-0)

Olympique de Marseille dominated Strasbourg 4-0 Friday night at the Vélodrome, in the opening fixture of Ligue 1 2026-2027, but the match was overshadowed by refereeing controversy following the expulsion of Strasbourg’s Samir El Mourabet in the 59th minute.

Referee Ruddy Buquet, after consulting VAR, issued a straight red card to El Mourabet for a gesture of frustration toward Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, just minutes after Amine Gouiri had opened the scoring (46th). A decision that definitively settled the match in Marseille’s favor.

Pundit Daniel Riolo did not mince words. In his view, the Moroccan international’s gesture warranted only a yellow card, and Buquet “killed the match” by showing red directly. “I was enjoying the refereeing in the first half,” he said, before lamenting the turning point in the second half. “We’ve invented something new—that a yellow card isn’t enough. Now there’s no yellow card and straight red. Now the foul is straight red. He didn’t break his leg, for God’s sake!”

Riolo also took aim at the rulebook itself, which he deems flawed: “The regulation prevents you from giving him yellow. The regulation is stupid because I can’t take these straight reds anymore! It kills the match.”

Despite the controversy, Bruno Genesio’s OM delivered a convincing start with a 4-0 victory in front of a sold-out Vélodrome. Strasbourg, reduced to ten players early in the second half, could mount no resistance while playing with a numerical disadvantage.