"There is no corruption in French football": Longoria breaks silence and backpedals after her breakdown

The day after. "I want to say that there is no corruption in French football," admitted Olympique de Marseille president Pablo Longoria in an interview with AFP on Monday, saying he "regretted" having used the term .

"The form was not appropriate and I regret that word," Longoria said of his outburst of anger after Marseille's defeat at Auxerre (3-0) , which he explained by "many refereeing decisions on which (he) considers that OM was disadvantaged." An expected speech but which will not erase the anger of the Marseille manager. Nor the pathetic images after a match which was not scandalous from the refereeing point of view.

Also read Ligue 1: in video, Pablo Longoria mad with rage in the stands during Auxerre-OM

"I am very self-critical with myself, I cannot accept giving this type of image. A club president cannot behave like this. Nothing justifies the form and I am not happy with myself," Pablo Longoria told AFP.

"Everyone explained to me the meaning of the word corruption in French, because in Spanish it has a broader meaning. Be careful, it doesn't justify anything. But I have never in my life thought about something like money exchanges or financial transactions, I would never allow myself that," he added.

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"I want to say that there is no corruption in French football. That there are things that are not clear and that need to be improved, yes. And that is what really annoys me. We need to improve a lot of things to avoid confusion, for everyone," the Marseille manager added.

"Even if nothing justifies it, you have to understand how you get to this anger. My first responsibility is to defend my club. There have been many refereeing decisions this season in which I consider that OM was disadvantaged," said the Marseille president.