"It was an insult for sport and football!" declared Roxana Maracineanu. The French Sports Minister's exasperation echoed nearly everyone who watched the ugly brawl involving players and fans during Nice's Ligue 1 game with Marseille that descended into utter chaos at the Allianz Riviera stadium. 

Marseille star Dimitri Payet, who threw a bottle hurled at him back into the stand behind the goal, was left with blood and scratches on his back after confronting a swarm of Nice fans that invaded the pitch. His teammates Luan Peres and Matteo Guendouzi also ended up with bruises on their necks in the melee that ultimately caused the game to be abandoned. 

This was supposed to be a festival for Nice supporters, who were allowed back into their stadium for the first time in 18 months. But a small section of the fans brought shame to the whole home crowd by throwing projectiles at Marseille players throughout the match, leading to a horrendous escalation of the incident.

Their troubles are far from over. According to French media outlet L'Equipe, a 28-year-old man, who is presumed to be a Nice fan, has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting Marseille players. More arrests could be made in coming days as the police are still examining video surveillance images to identify those involved in the violence. 

Meanwhile, on Monday night, local authorities in Nice announced a four-match stand closure of Nice's Allianz Riviera stadium. Bernard Gonzalez, prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes department, revealed in a statement that "in view of the seriousness of the incidents that occurred," they meted out the punitive measure "without waiting for the sanctions to be decided by the professional football league (LFP)." 

LFP later also released a statement, confirming that both Nice and Marseille would be summoned to its disciplinary commission for a hearing on Wednesday following the "serious incidents."

Marseille president Pablo Longoria, who refused to restart the game after the situation calmed down, insisted that it would have been a huge mistake to keep the game going. "Our players were attacked! We decided, for the safety of our players, to not restart the match because their safety wasn't guaranteed," he told a press briefing.  

Nice mayor Christian Estrosi was incensed by the mass brawl, but defended his team's players. "This violence is unacceptable. Sanctions must be taken by the French football league once they have found out who was responsible," he said on Twitter.  

"If the behavior of certain supporters is unacceptable, so too was that of the Marseille president [Longoria] in the stands, and also that of the coach [Sampaoli] on the pitch… I want to salute the impeccable behavior of the players and coach of Nice. It is now up to the authorities to make the necessary decisions." 

According to Ligue 1 rules, an automatic 3-0 victory will be awarded to Nice as Marseille refused to return to the pitch, but Marseille is likely to appeal such a decision. There is also a small chance that the LFP will decide to replay the game. 

Regardless of how the LFP will handle the farce, the fan violence will have an extremely negative impact on the reputation of Ligue 1 and French football in general.  

While the whole world is still anxiously waiting for Lionel Messi, arguably the best player in the world, to make his Ligue 1 debut this weekend, the despicable scene at the Allianz Riviera stadium last weekend will live on in the memory for a long time.