Big regrets for OM. After leading twice against Shakhtar Donetsk, Olympique de Marseille failed to leave Hamburg with an away victory and had to settle for a draw (2-2) in the play-off Europa League first leg.
A victory would have allowed him to both get back on track and find himself on a favorable waiver before returning next Thursday to the Vélodrome. All the goals were scored in a completely crazy last half hour. Despite a great Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, scorer (64th) then decisive passer for Iliman Ndiaye (90th), OM came out frustrated.
A culpable relaxation in added time
How did the Phocaeans manage to let slip a victory which seemed to be reaching out to them after the 2-1 goal scored by Ndiaye in the last minute of regulation time? The question is likely to haunt Gennaro Gattuso for a moment, who had immediately armored his defensive system by aligning a three-element central defense for added time. A wasted effort because it was in this sector that the Brazilian Eguinaldo burst out to snatch the equalizer by taking over Samuel Gigot in the air (90th + 3).
Half an hour earlier, OM had already been caught just four minutes after Aubameyang opened the score, just in time to take back a caviar from Jonathan Clauss (64th). The right-back did not have the opportunity to really enjoy his tenth assist of the season in all competitions, since it was after a completely missed clearance on his part that Mykola Matviyenko immediately put his team back up to par (68th).
Aubameyang joins Falcao
Unhappy in the end, OM clearly benefited from a refereeing boost in the first period when the referee, forgetting to give up the advantage, deprived Eguinaldo of the opener (27th) after a huge disagreement between Clauss and Lopez.
Long bland offensively, even waiting until the 52nd minute before scoring their first shot, Marseille were more enterprising in the second half and could undoubtedly have opened the scoring earlier if Luis Henrique had not been so clumsy at close range (58th) . This is not a criticism that can be decently leveled at Aubameyang, now co-best in the history of the Europa League with 30 goals, tied with the Colombian Radamel Falcao.
OM will therefore have to win next Thursday at the Vélodrome in order to qualify for the round of 16. We will have to do without Leonardo Balerdi, warned Thursday evening and suspended for the return. Until then, OM will go to Brest on Sunday in the championship to try to achieve what would only be a third away victory of the season. We will have to be much more solid than against the Ukrainians.