Guendouzi and Greenwood banned by Uefa as Fenerbahce’s Lyon brawl catches up with them

Fenerbahce midfielder Matteo Guendouzi has been handed a four-match European ban, with half of it suspended, and fined €50,000 (£43,000) over the ugly scenes that followed his side’s Champions League play-off triumph in Lyon.

Uefa’s disciplinary panel delivered its verdict on Friday, punishing the former Arsenal man for insulting officials and spectators and for breaching the governing body’s basic standards of conduct. Mason Greenwood, the Turkish club’s English striker, escaped with a one-match suspended ban and a €30,000 (£26,000) fine for his involvement in the melee.

Lyon coach hit hardest

The heaviest sanction fell on Lyon goalkeeping coach Antonio Ferreira, who was banned for five matches — two of them suspended — after Uefa concluded he had committed a serious assault in the aftermath of the tie. Both clubs were also fined €50,000 apiece for their players’ and staff’s failure to keep the peace.

Fenerbahce booked their place in the group phase courtesy of a 3-2 aggregate win, but the celebrations at full-time turned sour. Guendouzi, who spent three years at Marseille before leaving for Turkey, had been hounded by the home crowd throughout the second leg and appeared to taunt the French supporters as the final whistle blew. Team-mates had to usher him away as tempers flared, and he was later seen shouting “Allez l’OM” down a pitchside camera — a pointed reference to Lyon’s fierce rivals, where he played between 2021 and 2024.

Video on social media showed a man in Lyon colours squaring up to the midfielder in the tunnel, where security staff and both squads piled in and a melee erupted.

Guendouzi hits back at the abuse

Speaking to reporters after the match, Guendouzi made no apology for his response, claiming he had felt disrespected by taunts about his family. He said it was disappointing that a celebration he felt was earned had been spoiled, and pointedly noted that nobody on the refereeing side had intervened while 60,000 people insulted his mother and children. He argued that in France such abuse usually prompts the authorities to calm the crowd, maybe to the point of stopping the game — and wondered why that line had not been crossed here.

Greenwood, who swapped Marseille for Fenerbahce in the summer, was also sanctioned for misconduct in the same episode. The suspended element of both bans carries a one-year probationary period, so any fresh European indiscretion would trigger the full punishment.

Club to challenge the verdict

Fenerbahce signalled they will fight the verdicts, saying their legal departments are examining the decisions and the reasoning behind them, with arbitration and appeal proceedings set in motion before Uefa’s appeals committee.

For Guendouzi, the episode threatens to define the start of his European campaign. The play-off had been the high point of Fenerbahce’s summer, and he was among the most vocal figures in dragging the club into the league stage — yet the celebrations now carry a heavy price. With the first two matches of his ban suspended, he could still feature in the early fixtures of the league phase, but the sword of Damocles now hangs over his season.

Uefa’s willingness to punish both a player’s provocation and the response it drew makes clear that, in Europe’s competition, the tunnel and the celebrations around it are no longer an off-limits free-for-all. For Lyon, the cost is a banned coach and a hefty fine; for Fenerbahce, a sense of vindication at the tie itself is now clouded by the fallout that followed it.

_Source: BBC Sport (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cly7874vxzlo)_