This time, the match between Olympique de Marseille (OM) and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) version 2023-2024 took place. Postponed on October 29, after attacks by Marseille supporters on several visitor buses, including the one transporting OL players, the meeting between these two historic rivals in the French championship was held without incident, Wednesday December 6, at the Stade-Vélodrome, in Marseille.
But it also marks the beginning of discontent among the ultra elite, who oppose the desire of the public authorities to temporarily ban all travel during classified matches. ” at risk “ by the national anti-hooliganism division.
In front of 54,238 spectators, who left the enclosure delighted, OM won easily (3-0) on Wednesday. The team thus signs its third victory in a row in as many outings on its lawn, and played, by all accounts, its best match of the season.
With two assists and a goal, striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang confirms his revival; after his four goals in two games, the flagship recruit of the OM off-season, helped by the presence of the Portuguese Vitinha – a goal, an assist – established at his side, silenced the whistles which had hosted a week earlier during the confrontation against Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League. “We must not believe that we have solved everything”, put Marseille coach, Italian Gennaro Gattuso, into perspective after the match, recalling that his team had struggled in previous matches.
A match especially scrutinized for its advantages
The Lyon team continues its annus horribilis. The presence on the OL bench of Pierre Sage, interim coach, has changed nothing in the mistakes of a harmless and defensively fragile team. “We were out of control throughout the match,” recognized the Lyon coach. With seven points in fourteen matches, OL are trailing at the bottom of the standings and seem, more than ever, under threat of relegation to Ligue 2. “We are aware of being in danger,” confirms Pierre Sage.
This match between Marseille and Lyon was not a football summit. But he was especially scrutinized for his side effects. The context of these reunions, weighing since the cancellation of the first face-to-face, became even heavier with the death, on Sunday, of a Nantes supporter, stabbed by a VTC driver ahead of the meeting between Nantes and Nice.
On Wednesday, the arrival of the OL bus was surely the most anticipated of the season in Ligue 1. At 7:30 p.m., preceded by bikers, a car and two police vans, the vehicle carrying the players and the Lyon technical staff, a classic coach rented from a Vaucluse carrier, entered the bowels of the Stade-Vélodrome. ” Without incident “, specified the police headquarters, which had mobilized nearly 700 police officers and gendarmes to avoid any excess. An armored vehicle with a water cannon even sat at the entrance to the stadium while drones overlooked the scene.
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