Marseille vs Rennes postponed after furious fans set fire to training ground

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Marseille’s Ligue 1 clash with Rennes has been postponed after angry fans set off fireworks at their training ground.

Images emerged of flames from the top-flight French side's Center Drive Robert Louis-Dreyfus Olympique De Marseille training ground, with a group of 150 to 200 supporters setting a tree on fire.

Reports suggested a small group managed to get in to Marseille’s ground, while footage also emerged of fireworks being let off.

And Ligue 1 have confirmed that the disruption at the training ground has caused the Ligue 1 fixture with Rennes to be postponed.

A statement read: "Given the incidents that occurred this afternoon at the Olympique de Marseille training center, the OM – Stade Rennais FC match (22nd matchday in Ligue 1 Uber Eats) has been postponed to a later date."

The attack on the training ground comes with Marseille sitting sixth in the table, seven points off a Champions League spot – having been in a title race in November.

Marseille have not tasted victory in their last five games while they saw midfielder Morgan Sanson leave for Aston Villa in a £14m deal.

And it has led to calls for club president Jacques-Henri Eyraud to be sacked.

And he left Marseille fans furious last month when a conversation emerged that suggested he did not want staff at the club to be supporters of the side.

Speaking in a video call on LinkedIn, Eyraud said: “When I arrived, I was struck by the fact that 99% of people working at the club were from Marseille. I think that this is a danger, a risk.

"Why do I say that? Because I was there for several months and we were on a run of two consecutive defeats. I saw in the business just how grey the faces were.

"People were close to depression. In terms of productivity, the impact that a defeat had on the attitudes, behaviours, on a daily basis was strong. And that, that was not on.

"The English, the Americans, who usually are better able to distance themselves from that, say that when you are an employee at a football club, the first thing that you have to be careful of not doing is to bring in, and I am citing, a “fan in a suit,” because it will be someone who will be drawn to talking about having passion for the club, for his team, rather than looking at the plan defined together.”

• Marseille FC
• Ligue 1

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