Barton sees red as Marseille slump to Nancy

Joey Barton was sent off for the first time since moving to France last night as Marseille slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to bottom club Nancy.

Barton was booked twice in the space of five second-half minutes as Marseille lost ground in the race for the Ligue 1 title.

Barton later took to Twitter to vent his frustrations.

He tweeted: “Players who roll around when nobody touches them should be subsequently banned. I hate cheats. Authorities should address it.

“Two very harsh yellows. First one wasn’t even a foul. We will bounce back from this.”

Earlier, former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu scored twice as Ajaccio inflicted a blow to Lyon’s title hopes.

With Paris St Germain — minus new signing David Beckham — thumping Toulouse 4-0 on Friday, Lyon needed a win to draw level with the capital club at the top of the table.

Ajaccio were perched just two points above the relegation zone, and everything looked to be going to script when Lyon edged ahead early in the second half.

But Ajaccio were soon level, thanks to Chahir Belghazouani, and Romanian Mutu headed them ahead before adding a late penalty after Lyon missed a chance to equalise from the spot with three minutes left.