Ivory Coast vs Senegal friendly cancelled after supporters invade the pitch, chase players and tackle Lamine Gassama
Liverpool forward Sadio Mane scored for Senegal before spectators invaded the pitch and forced the game to be abandoned with Lamine Gassama appearing to be rugby tackled
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Your support makes all the difference.A friendly international between Senegal and the Ivory Coast at the Charlety Stadium in Paris had to abandoned on Monday night, when a group of fans invaded the pitch.
Liverpool’s Sadio Mane gave Senegal the lead from the penalty spot in the second-half, with Cyriac Gohi Bi levelling the scores just two minutes later.
Both sides began to press for the winner late on, but with 88 minutes on the clock the match had to be abandoned because of crowd trouble.
Several supporters began to cause trouble in the stands before some jumped the advertising hoardings and made their way onto the pitch.
Stewards struggled to cope with so many fans jumping onto the pitch, with one Senegal player – the unfortunate Lamine Gassama – appearing to be rugby tackled by one unruly invader.
The players immediately ran off down the tunnel leaving the referee, Frenchman Tony Chapron, no choice but to abandon the match. The match was officially abandoned in the 88th minute.
Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha, Manchester United's Eric Bailly and Everton's Idriss Gueye all played in the match.
There was also trouble in the other friendly on Monday night involving two African nations.
Nigeria’s friendly against Burkina Faso, due to take place in Barnet on Monday, has been called off after seven Burkina Faso players failed to gain visas to enter the United Kingdom.
The Nigeria Football Federation claimed that the cancellation was due to the Etalons failing to gain entry to the UK and said that they were “extremely disappointed” by the failure to fulfil the fixture.
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