Brest’s Pierre Lees-Melou fails in red card appeal

The club were most incensed by the decision to send off Pierre Lees-Melou (30), Brest’s stand-out player this season. An appeal was lodged, with the former Norwich City midfielder and his lawyer reportedly travelling to Paris to plead their case to the LFP – Ligue 1’s governing body. This appeal has, however, failed.

Lees-Melou received the red card during an altercation with Lyon’s Nicolas Tagliafico. With both players already on a yellow, Tagliafico dragged Lees-Melou off the ground, instigating a tussle between the two teams.

Lees-Melou was largely a passenger in the tussle, but like Tagliafico, who had also received a yellow, the Brest midfielder was sent off. Lyon then went on to win the match thanks to Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ 107th-minute penalty.

It had been hoped that the red card would be overturned by the disciplinary commission and Lees-Melou travelled to Paris on Wendesday to seek that outcome, but in vain.