The Marseillais will not be “forever the first” to win the Europa League Conference, this new European competition ranked third in the hierarchy of importance. Olympique de Marseille (OM) was held in check (0-0), at the Vélodrome stadium, Thursday, May 5, by Feyenoord Rotterdam, a score which does not allow them to win a sixth European final for OM after the defeat (2-3) conceded in the first leg to the Netherlands.
If it is far from having the prestige of the Champions League won by OM in 1993, the latest European cup was a real end-of-season goal for the French club, which hoped to dust off a record that had been frozen for ten years.
But the team of Jorge Sampaoli, black armband in memory of the thirtieth anniversary of the Furiani disaster, pushed in vain, quickly penalized by the injury in the first period of Dimitri Payet. The Marseille leader had the two best chances at the start of the match before going out half an hour into the game, hit in the right leg. The scene was reminiscent of the 2018 Europa League final, when Payet already had to be substituted quickly after getting injured. He left in tears and OM lost (0-3).
He was replaced by Arkadiusz Milik, again on the bench at kick-off. The Pole scored two headers (33and45and+2), to no avail. But OM then had a little less control over the game, allowing Feyenoord to start pressing and recovering a few balls in a high position.
The regrets of the first leg
The second period then came down to an attack-defense exercise, poorly managed by OM, where all the attackers were either clumsy, like Bamba Dieng then Cédric Bakambu, or impossible to find, like Milik. With Matteo Guendouzi in the lead, OM pushed and dominated but had few clear chances, apart from a soft shot from Valentin Rongier (55and).
The Dutch, on the other hand, pushed everything back and then started to manage the tempo of the match by gaining a few seconds here and there. In the last quarter of an hour all the same, OM besieged the Dutch goal, ending with a line of five, even six offensive players. But not a cross arrived on the right head, not a set piece fell in the right area. The technical correctness of Payet then really missed.
“The match changed with the exit of Payet. Without him, we had to come up with an alternate plan.”lamented his trainer Jorge Sampaoli after the elimination, referring to additional examinations to know the seriousness of the injury.
Despite the support of the Vélodrome stadium, although deprived of the North Bend, suspended for repeated incidents, OM did not succeed in forcing their destiny, and will be able to continue to regret their mistakes in the first leg, the spectacular blunder of Caleta-Car and the first two goals quickly conceded when they had been knocked out by the intensity of the Dutch game and by the din of the De Kuip stadium.
New final for Mourinho
OM still have hope of qualifying for the next Champions League thanks to the French championship – the Marseille club is in second place with three matches to go. But with only three points ahead of pursuers Rennes and Monaco, the fear of a failed end to the season hovers.
For its part, Feyenoord will therefore have the right to a nineteenth European match, to conclude its continental campaign which began in July 2021 with the preliminary rounds of this new competition. The club could conquer a fourth European title, after that obtained in C1 (1970) and the two gleaned in C3 (1974 and 2002).
The Dutch will however have to beat in the final, on May 25, a specialist in European competitions: José Mourinho, already winner of two Champions Leagues (2004, 2010) and two Europa Leagues (2003, 2017). The Portuguese coach’s AS Roma relied on a burning Stadio Olimpico to win (1-0) against the English in Leicester, on a goal from Englishman Tammy Abraham in the 11and minute ! A sufficient score after the draw (1-1) won in the first leg.
