Nice to play PSG game behind closed doors

Nice will be forced to play Paris Saint-Germain behind closed doors in their Ligue 1 encounter later this month, March, the French League of Professional Football (LFP) said Thursday.

LFP officials said that fans would be barred from the game scheduled to take place against PSG on Saturday 20 March as a punishment for crowd trouble at Nice’s away game at Monaco last January.

But the LFP’s decision to impose the sanction for the match against the one-time giants of French football drew an angry response from new Nice manager Eric Roy.

“I’ve the impression that this decision suits everybody except us,” Roy said.

“Clearly we would have liked it to be another match. Nice – PSG is still a big game for a lot of (Nice) fans. It’s a top-draw fixture that pulls in a big crowd.