In Marseille, we like to repeat for almost thirty years this formula in the form of an incantation: “Forever the first. “ Even more since PSG, finalist against Bayern Munich, missed the opportunity, on August 23, to join OM in the very meager list of French clubs winners of the Champions League. However, it is far from posing as conquerors that the Marseillais – 6es of the French championship after seven days – will return to the top competition after seven years of absence.
Wednesday, October 21, at 9 p.m., in Piraeus, against another Olympic, Olympiakos from Piraeus (Greece), Marseille will try to start its continental campaign as well as possible against the opponent of Group C (which also includes Manchester City and Porto), presented as the most accessible. And thus forget his disastrous 2013 campaign.
Barely two years after reaching the quarter-finals of the event, OM then failed in last place in a group made up of Arsenal, Napoli and Dortmund. The Marseillais had lost six times in six meetings. A humiliation when we know the love of Marseille for the European Cup.
Elie Baup, the coach with the cap and the Toulouse accent, looks back on this painful memory which precipitated his ousting in December 2013. “The season before, the team had finished 10e of Ligue 1. For my debut, we finished 2e. It was a good performance, with a small workforce. In the continuity, we switch to the Champions League, he says. We recruited only young people with high potential. We weren’t ready to face big teams. We lose from the start 1 to 0 against Arsenal. In the Champions League, we can’t wait… “
“Never safe from a poor performance”
This past bears some resemblances to the current situation: a team which optimizes its performance in the league after an average season (OM finished 2e in 2020 after a 5e place in 2019) and a summer recruitment of young hopefuls who still have everything to prove – notably the French Michaël Cuisance and Pape Gueye (21 years old) or the Brazilian Luis Henrique (18 years old).
“At the time, like maybe a bit today, we had probably been over-revving by finishing 2es. And then, recruiting experienced players for the European Cup is very expensive and you have to stay on the financial strings ”, compares Elie Baup. Especially since the club is still under the supervision of financial fair play established by UEFA.
“I am one of those for whom André Villas-Boas worked a miracle in 2019. Everyone is aware, him the first, that the club may have outperformed and that the premature end of the championship [à dix journées du terme prévu] it may have benefited “, supports Eric Di Meco, former European champion in 1993, one of the symbols of the OM of the emblematic president Bernard Tapie.
For those who always follow their training club closely – he will comment on the meeting for RMC Sport – there are reasons for hope, even if we are not “Never safe from a poor performance” in the Champions League. In his eyes, André Villas-Boas, whom he met in mid-October during the filming of a program at the training center, “Is smart and still has levers he can activate. He works other tactical devices, in particular with three central defenders and two spikes [attaquants], it can also go through there “.
“OM are not among the favorites at the start”
Faced with Bordeaux on Saturday, October 17 (3-1), the Portuguese coach implemented this pragmatism by abandoning his 4-3-3 for a device with two attackers which allowed Florian Thauvin, scorer, to put himself at his advantage. OM, after three games without a win at home in the league (a first since 2011), has recovered a little. “We needed this victory, I hope it will give us a little more confidence. Arriving in Piraeus with a defeat would have been hard ”, did not hide André Villas-Boas.
Winner for the first time in thirteen years of PSG, during the 3e Ligue 1 day, Marseille, unable to play the game, has yet more often offered the worst since the start of this season. “At the moment, we don’t have the level of play to win at the Vélodrome”, André Villas-Boas admitted before facing Bordeaux.
Staggered because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the new Champions League campaign is condensed into two months instead of three. In this context, starting with a trip to Athens can be an advantage. “OM are not among the favorites at the start. It’s great to start there and gauge yourself against a team within your reach. With this dense format, we will quickly know if he can fight for the 2e or 3e square “, analyzes ex-Olympian Benoît Cheyrou, consultant for the Téléfoot channel.
Despite “Legitimate deception” not to return to European competition in a full Stade Velodrome, because of health restrictions, Eric Di Meco felt, during his visit to the training center, the Olympians players impatient to meet in Athens to do battle. The former sports assistant at the town hall (between 2001 and 2007) brings one last reason to believe: “If we look at history, the Champions League wakes up the teams of the moribund OM. I am used to not paying too much attention to the national results of this club to assess its European chances. “
The match will finally take place behind closed doors
The truth of Monday is not that of Tuesday. The Greek government authorized, Monday, October 19, the return to the stadiums of a limited number of supporters from this week and under strict rules, after seven months in camera due to the pandemic of new coronavirus. But on Tuesday, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, banned all audiences in the stadiums this week. The match between Olympiakos and Olympique de Marseille on Wednesday will therefore take place behind closed doors. The presence in the stands of spectators “Sends the wrong message to citizens, at a time when all gatherings must be avoided, and health measures strictly observed”, estimated the head of government.
