Mattéo Guendouzi Faces Two-Match Champions League Ban After Lyon Clash

NYON, Switzerland — Mattéo Guendouzi will sit out Fenerbahce’s first two Champions League group games after UEFA came down hard on his role in the explosive playoff win at Lyon.

The 27-year-old midfielder, a former Marseille favorite and long-time villain in Lyon, was at the center of the chaos around Fenerbahce’s 2-1 victory on August 26 — a result that dragged the Istanbul club back into the Champions League for the first time in 18 years.

UEFA’s disciplinary body ruled that Guendouzi committed multiple offenses: breaching rules of decent conduct, insulting players or others present at the match, and provoking spectators. The verdict arrived late Friday from UEFA headquarters in Nyon.

The punishment is heavy.

Guendouzi is banned for Fenerbahce’s home opener against Roma next Thursday and the trip to Aston Villa on October 14. He was also fined 50,000 euros ($58,000).

The flashpoints started long before the final whistle.

During the warmup, Guendouzi twice raised his middle fingers toward Lyon fans. After the match, in front of a seething home crowd, he repeated the gesture, grabbed his crotch and shouted “Allez l’OM” — a pointed salute to his former club Marseille, Lyon’s fiercest domestic rival. He later claimed Lyon supporters had insulted his family before and during the game.

The tension boiled over near the players’ tunnel after full time.

Lyon goalkeeper coach Antonio Ferreira launched a flying kick at Guendouzi in the melee, an incident UEFA classified as “serious assault.” Ferreira received a three-game ban from Europa League fixtures, with two additional matches suspended.

Mason Greenwood, another of Fenerbahce’s high-profile summer arrivals, was also cited. The forward, involved in the post-match confrontations, was handed a one-game ban deferred for a year, effectively putting him on probation. He was fined 30,000 euros ($35,000) for violating decent conduct rules.

The governing body did not stop at individual sanctions.

Fenerbahce were fined 50,000 euros ($58,000) for violating rules of decent conduct and a further 45,000 euros ($52,000) for fan misconduct. Lyon’s bill was even steeper: 108,500 euros ($126,000) across a raft of charges tied to the disorder.

For Fenerbahce, who have poured money into rebuilding a squad capable of competing with city rival Galatasaray and of making a mark in Europe, the timing is brutal. Guendouzi and Greenwood arrived this offseason as headline signings for a club desperate to reassert itself at home and abroad. Galatasaray will also line up in the Champions League, turning the spotlight on Istanbul’s power struggle.

Lyon, meanwhile, must pick themselves up and head into the Europa League. They open their campaign away at Anderlecht next Thursday, carrying both the scars of the playoff defeat and the weight of UEFA’s sanctions.