PARIS, Feb 22 - Olympique Lyon have accused AS
Roma players of taking a leaf out of Italy defender Marco
Materazzi's book in a heated but goalless Champions League match
on Wednesday.
Materazzi was headbutted in the chest by France's Zinedine
Zidane after a notorious verbal exchange in last year's World
Cup final won by Italy.
"It was quite a rough match with unfair behaviour (by the
Roma players)," said Olympique Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas
of the match in Rome where referee Mike Riley handed out 11
yellow cards -- eight of them to Roma.
"There was some verbal abuse too. Several Italian players
came to apologise after the game for insults I would brand as
similar to the ones against Zinedine Zidane during the World Cup
final," he told reporters.
"We needed a great performance tonight to keep our hopes
alive," he added.
The first of the Roma players to be booked was French
international defender Philippe Mexes, after three minutes for a
tackle on Lyon's playmaker Juninho.
"Mexes didn't go for the ball, he only tried to get me out
of the game," said Juninho.
"I got scared in the first few minutes of the match," said
Lyon coach Gerard Houllier. "I was wondering about a 'contract'
they (AS Roma) could have put on Juninho's head. After the
match, he was really upset."
The Lyon captain expressed his disappointment about the
referee's decisions.
"French clubs are not respected like they should be in the
Champions League," Juninho said. "We saw it with Lille on
Tuesday or when we played PSV Eindhoven two years ago."
"We realised tonight that it still goes on. We don't have
the same weight as Spanish, Italian or English clubs," the
Brazilian added.
Houllier, however, was happy with the outcome and said
Wednesday's game was the best by his team since the beginning of
the year.