Lorik Cana will be up in front of the disciplinary committee on Thursday, after his sending-off (with the Lorient player Le Lan) last weekend. He explains how and why he got the red card, the first since 2005 and his arrival at OM.
It was the only negative note in the victory over Lorient. An unfortunate moment of the match, the origin of which came from a problem of interpretation and which finished up with two players being sent off. «It was right at the end of the match, there was a throw-in which was, in this case, for us. Unfortunately, Arnaud Le Lan saw the linesman flag in favour of Lorient and I saw the referee giving it to us. He wanted to get the ball back, I didn’t want to let it go and we ended up on the ground » explains Lorik Cana.
The players were only on the ground for seconds before their team-mates came to separate them calmly. «We both held onto each other but there were no punches thrown or any type of violence at all ». The referee, who ended up surrounded by players, then «decided to send the two players off before the situation got out of hand ».
Arnaud Le Lan and Lorik Cana left the pitch and ended up in the corridor leading to the changing rooms sitting down in front of a television. «There was never any problem between the two of us, we even ended up watching the end of the match together ».
After the encounter, the OM captain and the referee, Olivier Thual, bumped into each other and talked about the event. «He explained that there seemed to be a lot of tension and that is why he sent us off. He preferred cooling the situation down».
His first sending off at OM in 4 seasons!
OM go into their match against Lille, 6th in the table, as leaders of the L1 this Sunday at 21h00. «We’re dealing with our position calmly, but are still keeping positive pressure on ourselves so that we don’t get complacent. We have a few physical problems, which mean that not everyone is available. It’s just something that we have to deal with, the league will be tight right up to the end.»
On Sunday, the Albanian was sent off for the first time in his OM career, which started in 2005. For a defensive midfielder who is supposedly a fierce competitor, the statistic pleads in his favour, before he goes up in front of the disciplinary commission in Paris this afternoon
Automatically suspended for the match against Lille, Lorik Cana will still be travelling with his partners. In this exciting final run in where every point counts, the presence of the captain will be very important for the cohesion of the squad.
