At the Vélodrome stadium,
Everyone expected a spanking from PSG, the players of Olympique de Marseille finally gave the 66,046 supporters present on Sunday evening at the Stade Vélodrome the reception of the Parisian enemy (2-0) for almost an hour. ). But in the end it is still the Parisians who win, and the Marseillais once again emerge from a classic with “a lot of frustration”, like their coach Jean-Louis Gasset.
Because they initially resisted to the point of “looking at PSG eye to eye”, according to defender Ulisses Garcia, aligned on the right in the absence of Jonathan Clauss, one of the many injured who suggested the worse. They even created “quite a few chances” but without ever “managing to make it happen”, like this shot captured by Aubameyang (14th) then the one off target by Veretout (16th).
The Marseillais “stayed a little in between”
The expulsion of Parisian defender Beraldo just before half-time for his “hustle” on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (41st) then gave a little more depth to a possible Marseille exploit. And even if it is considered severe by some, it is “obvious that this action must be punished with the annihilation of a clear goal action”, according to referee Benoît Bastien who justified it on Amazon Prime at the end of the meeting.
But as too often this season, the Marseillais no longer really knew how to play once in numerical superiority. “We stayed a little in between, whether to go out or stay. We were in good momentum at the end of the first half, we had the elements to win this match,” Geoffrey Kondogbia even admitted.
And the Parisian arrows, not necessarily the one we expected with a Mbappé as discreet as he was whistled, ended up stinging. First on a superb counter-attack and a school one-two between Vitinha and Dembélé (53rd). The Marseillais could have collapsed, but Veretout quickly got his team back on track, before seeing his goal canceled for an offside position by Luis Henrique. The striker was judged too close to Donnarumma by Benoît Bastien, and too bad if a Parisian deflects the ball. A “questionable” decision which “changes the whole match”, according to Jean-Louis Gasset.
Frustration and hurt
Because after the refereeing frustration, it was the Marseille attackers’ disgust with Donnarumma which gradually took its toll. First vigilant on a center shot from Merlin (75th), the Italian goalkeeper had a huge end to the match against Moumbagna (77th, 86th), Aubameyang (79th) and even Harit (86th). “Paris has a very great goalkeeper, we have the impression that he fills the entire goal,” Gasset could only smile yellow.
And after a second lightning counter-attack, Paris folded the match thanks to Gonçalo Ramos (85th) against the Marseillais who had been warned on this point by their coach. “There is a lot of frustration. Everyone talks to me about playing 10 against 11, but even before then we were well in the match. We recovered the ball well despite their offensive talent, we had 3/4 counter situations where we must control better and be more efficient. At 11 against 10, it’s hard to be caught on the counter when we put them in their 30 meters, we had to be much more concentrated.
A lot of frustration for the players and the Marseille supporters, but OM is finally in its place. With a hope of just under an hour against the Parisians who knew how to accelerate exactly when necessary. Gasset’s men will now have to quickly recover after the new injury outings of Mbemba and Balerdi. What is ultimately more worrying for the Marseillais than losing against PSG