Olympic Marseille – Galatasaray Istanbul: Three police officers were injured

French football continues to make negative headlines off the field. In the European League match between Olympique Marseille and Turkish record champion Galatasaray Istanbul (0-0), three police officers were injured on Thursday evening. Five fans were arrested.

Several smoke bombs exploded in the Galatasaray fans area and the match was interrupted for eight minutes. Clashes also broke out between rival groups of fans before calm returned.

Police Director Frederic Camilleri wrote on Twitter: “Tonight 550 police officers were needed to host a football match. Three of them were injured, and they have my full support.”

Galatasaray fans have been banned from traveling from Turkey to this high-risk game, and the club has many fans in the rest of Europe. “Our fans are important to us. I asked them to be calm. They listened to me,” Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim said.

Since spectators have returned to French football stadiums, riots have escalated in arenas and in the surrounding area in recent weeks.