At the Vélodrome stadium,
Who could have imagined that Olympique de Marseille would be the only club to qualify for the round of 16 of the Europa League? This is the feat achieved by Jean-Louis Gasset and his men, victorious over Shaktar Donetsk (3-1), Thursday evening during the return match at the Vélodrome stadium. A feat more for the context than the performance, against a weak Ukrainian team.
It had only been two days since Jean-Louis Gasset arrived in Marseille when he sat on the OM bench, in a sold-out Vélodrome stadium with 63,182 spectators. But with the banners of the groups of supporters of the northern turn turned over as a sign of protest, just like the various incendiary banners which flourished throughout the match.
“I said to myself, ‘Let’s do it!’ »
But it didn’t take any longer for the new coach to impose his influence. First in the mentality, as he has continued to repeat since his arrival. And it was not the opening score from a penalty by Shaktar (12th), as quickly as stupidly conceded by Jonathan Clauss (already guilty of the first Ukrainian equalizer in the first leg), which disturbed them. “When we are down 1-0 against the run of play with this penalty which is not fair, and we have some problems, I saw the reaction of the public and the players and I said to myself “we are going to do it !” », Supported the new OM coach.
As for the players, the same story goes for rookie Quentin Merlin, striking on his left side, “we stayed united, we had strength of character, we weren’t afraid to play”, as for his friend in defense, Bamo Meité: “We raised our heads, we went into the fight and we were able to come up with the score.”
“The most important thing is the state of mind”
Exactly what the Marseillais have been incapable of with Gennaro Gattuso for almost two months. And the serial Europa League scorer, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, quickly set the record straight (23rd), by scoring his 9th goal in nine European cup matches this season.
His attacking partner, Faris Moumbagna aligned alongside him in the famous 3-5-2, completely refuted by Gattuso, could then have obtained a penalty just before half-time (45+5). But neither the referee nor the VAR saw fit to whistle this blatant foul. A double blow of fate, which once again did not stop the Marseillais.
“The coach arrived with the mindset of getting us back on track. There it was a 3-5-2 but it could have been a 4-4-2, it’s not the system that matters. The most important thing is the state of mind, and it was there,” Bamo Meité once again underlined. Quentin Merlin still insisted on the contribution of Jean-Louis Gasset: “I think that the coach, we must thank him for everything he has done. The character, the soul of a team also comes in part from him, it’s what he has integrated into us.”
“I tried to be positive, to relax them”
But don’t talk to the person concerned about the “Gasset effect”, a term he refutes:
“ “No, I don’t think so, it’s mostly an awareness. The words weighed, not the work, when you’ve only been there for 48 hours. Each player had to do a little more and get back to basics. I tried to be positive and simple with my words, to make them relaxed. » »
However, it was his coaching that turned the match around, and offered Marseille, “a city that loves Europe”, qualification, right at the moment when OM was starting to purr in the middle of the second half. We thought he would choose Ndiaye, much better in support of the attacker, to replace Moumbagna. But Gasset preferred Ismaïla Sarr. And ten minutes later the Senegalese finally rewarded the slaughter of his teammates (73rd), while proving his new coach right. “Of course, when you change a striker and he scores the second goal, you say that ‘this is good coaching’. It happens from time to time,” Jean-Louis Gasset still enjoyed.
Despite a third liberating goal from Kondogbia (81st), at a time when OM of the last two months would have been equalized, the Marseillais did not boast. They all just gathered around their captain, Samuel Gigot, before starting a lap of honor facing a Vélodrome finally found again. Before planning on their other mission: returning to the Ligue 1 podium. For that, Jean-Louis Gasset will have to continue to apply his method in his hometown, Sunday in Montpellier (8:45 p.m.).