Saint-Étienne- Lyon match suspended due to fan trouble in stands with the game being called off for around 40 minutes.
Saint-Etienne- Lyon Ligue 1 fixture was suspended for around 40 minutes after an assistant referee was hit by an object thrown from the stands.
Mehdi Rahmouni was hit by something and held his head as Lyon, the visitors, who were behind 1-0, were about to take a throw-in in the 44th minute.
Rahmouni was struck by a coin thrown from the stands, according to the French publication L’Equipe.
Rahmouni was attended to by Lyon’s medical staff before the players and officials were escorted off the pitch by referee Francois Letexier.
After a long pause, play did eventually restart, and Saint-Etienne won 2-1.
“We’re going to restart the game because the assistant referee feels up to restarting,” Noel Mannino, the league matchday representative, told AFP.
“At the next incident, the match will be stopped for good.”
Lyon supporters were prohibited from attending the game due to past confrontations.
A recent “massive use of pyrotechnic devices and verbal abuse” had previously threatened to close two ends of Saint-Etienne’s stadium.
Their game against Montpellier was called off in March after a portion of a stand caught fire and home fans hurled flares onto the field.