Marseille fan charged with attempted murder

A Marseille supporter has been arrested and charged with attempted murder for allegedly firing a flare during a match in September. The city’s prosecutor’s office indicted the 26-year-old man on Friday, over a month since the incident occurred.

Police are claiming that the fan fired the flare inside a parking lot near the Marseille stadium on September 13th. German club Eintracht Frankfurt were visiting the Ligue 1 side in a Champions League group stage match. The flare apparently hit another man in the neck and caused serious injuries. In fact, the injured man is still reportedly receiving medical treatment.

The Associate Press is also reporting that a 64-year-old woman was also injured in the incident. She was hurt while attempting to remove the flare and help the suffering victim.

The incident to led to Marseille fan charged with attempted murder

Along with the fans, 17 police officers were also injured during the pre-match melee. 3,000 Frankfurt fans bought tickets and traveled to France to watch their team that night. There was supposedly even more visiting supporters that remained outside of the stadium in a fan zone as well.

While the main incident in question occurred outside of the stadium, there were also issues inside. Fans from both sides were seen shooting flares and fireworks at each other from the stands during the game.

Despite the incident, the game was eventually played on the night. Frankfurt won the fixture 1-0 thanks to a lone goal from Jesper Lindstrom. A vast majority of the 3,000 ticket-possessing fans stayed inside the stadium long after the match ended due to security concerns.

The two teams will soon face off again, this time in Germany, on Wednesday, October 26th. Both clubs will be looking to collect all three points on the night. Group D of the Champions League is currently wide open.

Tottenham is top the group with seven points, but Marseille and Sporting are both just one point behind the Premier League club. Frankfurt are also still not out of the race and sit on four points.