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Marseille defender Patrice Evra suffered the indignity of getting a red card before his team’s game even started on Thursday, and for the dumbest reason — kicking a fan.
While he was warming up ahead of the Europa League game against Vitória de Guimarães, some Marseille supporters reportedly started shouting abuse at him. Evra went to confront the fans and talk out their differences, but apparently, that didn’t work out. The situation just escalated, and he karate kicked a fan in the face.
Here is that moment, perfectly captured:
Patrice Evra channelling his inner Cantona
— Ladbrokes (@Ladbrokes) November 2, 2017
Sent off before kick-off pic.twitter.com/1r3fwqmTJT
Journalist Karim Attab took this video of the entire incident from the press box.
#VSCOM un truc de fou s'est passé entre des supporters semble-t-il Marseillais et des joueurs dont Evra ! Ça a tapé ! @OM_Officiel #TeamOM pic.twitter.com/C9Cozns6X4
— Karim Attab (@karimattab1) November 2, 2017
The referee apparently saw the incident and red carded Evra before the game even started. He wasn’t set to start, but Marseille couldn’t name a replacement on their bench. Don’t expect Evra to be allowed to play again in the Europa League this year, and who knows whether Marseille will let him play any games at all after this.
At 36 years old, with his play declining, this incident might be career-ending for Evra.