The enchanted parenthesis is over. After two victories in a row on the European scene, Olympique de Marseille was beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday October 26, in the group stage of the Champions League (2-1). Consequence: the Phocaeans find themselves last in their group before the last day.
But nothing is decided for the men of Igor Tudor, who will have their destiny in their hands on Tuesday 1er november. In case of victory against Tottenham, they will be guaranteed to qualify for the round of 16 of the competition.
With a favorable result in the other match (Sporting Portugal-Eintracht Frankfurt), the Olympians could even finish first in their group, a scenario almost unhoped for at the Canebière a few weeks ago. To win against the English, the Marseillais will however have to do better than Wednesday, and this from the start of the meeting, to avoid their supporters the unpleasant taste of deja vu that they experienced during the game against Frankfurt.
Another bad start for OM
As against Sporting, the Marseille defense did not last long before cracking. From the third minute of play, Evan Ndicka found Daichi Kamada at the entrance to the area, to already offer the advantage to the German players. Nothing frankly very reassuring on the OM side, especially since the team has just lost its three previous Ligue 1 matches.
3 – There have only been 2 goals conceded in the first 3 minutes this season in the Champions League. The 2 were… https://t.co/xrB6CbshPk
Still, as often, the Marseillais were able to count on Mattéo Guendouzi to come back to score. Livelier than the Frankfurt defence, the former Arsenal catapulted under Kevin Trapp’s bar a volley from the right on a cross from Chancel Mbemba (22e minute). Unfortunately for OM, Mattéo Guendouzi and Chancel Mbemba were much more unfortunate a few minutes later: the first lost a ball in the middle of the field, then the second was somewhat overwhelmed in defense, and despite himself offered a ball from goal to Randal Kolo Muani, who did not miss the opportunity to score his first goal in the Champions League (27e minute).
The achievement of the former Nantes player could suggest a crazy evening at Deutsche Bank Park, which could almost compete with the victory the day before PSG against Maccabi Haifa (7-2). In the end, nothing came of it, and apart from a few occasions, such as a strike from Amine Harit (45e minute) or a lob attempt from Alexis Sanchez (57e minute), the Phocaeans were never very dangerous in the Frankfurt area.
“The disappointment is great. We made a bad start to the game. We concede two goals a little stupidly, we manage to come back to the score but it is played on details ”, confided, after the meeting, Amine Harit at the microphone of Canal +. Unlike other teams like FC Barcelona (beaten on their lawn 3-0 by Bayern Munich), the Marseillais will at least be able to play their qualification on the last day.
“You have to tell yourself that we have a final to play next week against Tottenham. We need to move on quickly.”, assured Jonathan Clauss at the final whistle. In the event of victory, the Marseillais would join the round of 16 for the first time since the 2011-2012 season.