This Sunday, as part of Matchday 15 of Ligue 1 2024-2025, Paris Saint-Germain (1st) will take on Olympique Lyonnais (5th) at the Parc des Princes (kick-off 8:45pm, broadcast on DAZN in France). Florent Batta (43) has been chosen to referee the match. He has a wealth of experience in Ligue 1, with 248 matches to his name.
He will be assisted by Hicham Zakrani and Aurélien Berthomieu. Pierre Gaillouste will act as 4th referee. Video assistance will be provided by Mathieu Vernice and Cédric Dos Santos.
Yellow cards –
With Mr Bastien on the whistle, we can expect yellow cards to come out very quickly during the match. Indeed, while the national average per match is 3.53 (standard deviation 0.39), Sunday’s referee has given an average of 3.95 yellows per match throughout his career in Ligue 1 (Transfermarkt figures). That’s very high – let’s hope it’s with good player protection and no exaggeration.
Direct red cards –
The man on the whistle on Sunday is also harsh on direct exclusions, as he has a high tendency to hand out direct red cards. In fact, Bastien has handed out 0.19 exclusions per match in his career, while the national average per match is 0.17 (standard deviation 0.07). Clearly, the players will have to be careful.
Second yellow cards –
Benoît Bastien, on the other hand, is not in the habit of sending off a player after his first yellow card in a match, as he issued a second warning to the same player an average of 0.08 times per match. This is a tad lower than the national average of 0.09 (standard deviation 0.03). With a lot of yellows and reds, this is a bit of a surprise. Even if we can assume that some of the exclusions have already been given directly.
Penalties –
Finally, when it comes to penalty kicks, the man on the whistle on Sunday is on a par with the average, with 0.34 penalties whistled per match (standard deviation 0.08).
