Ligue 1: Suspended sentence for Lyon fan who struck Payet

The Lyon fan who threw a bottle at Marseille captain Dimitri Payet in a weekend Ligue 1 match was on Tuesday handed a six-month suspended prison sentence.

Wilfried Serriere, 32, was also banned from Lyon’s Parc OL stadium for five years as a result of Sunday’s incident.

Payet required treatment after being struck on the side of the head as he prepared to take a corner for the visitors in the fifth minute, prompting both teams to return to the changing rooms.

“I don’t know what was going through my mind,” Serriere told the court in Lyon.

A food delivery driver, he was ordered to pay the Marseille skipper one euro in symbolic damages. He apologised to Payet, and said it had not been his intention to hit him.

On Monday Lyon were ordered to play their next home game behind closed doors ahead of a ruling on the affair due from the French professional football league on 8 December.

Sunday’s trouble was the latest in a Ligue 1 season that has been marred by crowd violence.

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Payet, who had been heckled by Lyon supporters while warming up before kick-off, was also hit by a bottle during a game at Nice in August.

Nice were docked a point.

Last week Marseille were ordered to play their next home game behind closed doors after trouble against Paris Saint-Germain.

Payet had called for calm from supporters ahead of the match against PSG on 24 October, but his appeal fell on deaf ears as both Neymar and Lionel Messi were targeted by projectiles.