sacre bleu
France Under-18’s match against Poland abandoned after four players sent off in 20 minutes, as game sees crazy headbutt and brawl
A game between France and Poland's Under-18s sides was abandoned with 13 minutes left to play after four French players were sent off.
The sides went head to head in the final of the Lafarge tournament, a competition for national youth teams, but the football quickly became irrelevant in the last 20 minutes of the match.
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Les Bleus' youth side were drawing 2-2 in the French city of Limonges on Sunday when frustrations spilt over in the second-half, despite the score at the time being enough to guarantee France's victory in the tournament.
France's Ilyes Housni was first to be sent for an early bath in the 55th minute.
Then Jeanuel Belocian was shown red six minutes later.
With just nine men left on the field, things went from bad to worse for France, as Poland took advantage of their depleted opponents and made it 3-2.
Things took another turn, then, as Malang Gomis was shown a second yellow in the 72nd minute.
Throwing the tie away had obviously got the better of the French youngsters, and tensions really flared when Darnell Bile put in a nasty tackle on a Poland player.
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The Saint-Etienne starlet went two-footed into the back of his opponent who had the ball by the touchline.
The Eagles player got up to press his chest into Bile, resulting in the French youngster thrusting his head into his face, leaving the winger face down on the floor.
The game then descended into chaos, as players from both sides clashed and brawls broke out around the incident.
Poland were furious, running to the officials.
Shortly after, Bile was shown red.
Then, with only seven of France's players left on the field, the referee abandoned the match, marking a dramatic end to an even more dramatic match.
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