Joey Barton spotted in Marseille away end after causing controversy with sexist rants as Ligue 1 side suffer Europa League defeat to Brighton

On Thursday evening Barton was spotted in the away end at Brighton's American Express Stadium, where he watched his former club Marseille lose 1-0 to the Seagulls in the Europa League. Last week, Barton caused controversy when he argued that women should not work in men's football as commentators and pundits.

Last week Barton appeared on Talk TV's Piers Morgan Uncensored, and since then has doubled down on his stance with more inflammatory tweets. On Thursday he took a break from fighting his new cause to attend the match, where he posed for photos with fans of his former club.

Barton only spent the 2012/13 season on loan at Marseille, but he has attended away fixtures on several occasions since. Last year he was photographed giving Tottenham fans the middle finger during Marseille's 0-2 Champions League group stage defeat.

Barton's sexist rants have coincided with him teasing the launch of his new podcast in the new year. Whether the two are linked remains to be seen. On the pitch, Marseille advanced to the Europa League knockout stages as group runners-up, while Brighton went through as group winners.