Roxana Maracineanu

Havana, November 22 (RHC)-- French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu expressed concern over the frequency of incidents in stadiums and aggressions against soccer players, following the object thrown against Dimitri Payet at a match in Lyon.

"This is the sixth aggression in the world of soccer and they have to stop, the League must solve the problem," said the senior official in statements to the Franceinfo channel, regarding the match suspended yesterday from the third minute, when a knob of water hit the head of the veteran Olympique de Marseille player on his visit to Olympique de Lyon.

Maracineanu urged the French authorities of the most universal of sports to act in the face of the situation, in particular the French Football Federation and the Professional Football League.

"It is necessary to stop this, it is the survival of soccer that is at risk," she stressed. The minister expressed solidarity with the former international with les Bleus, who suffered a second attack this season, after the water knob that hit him in the back in Nice on August 22.

In the Ligue 1 matchday 14 game, Payet was preparing to take a corner kick in the third minute of the "Olympic" classic when he received the blow, after which he fell to the ground.

The minister welcomed the fact that the man responsible for the attack with the knob was arrested and removed from the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, but insisted that it was not enough.