The Marseillais did not tremble against the Crocos this Saturday, for their first friendly match of the summer.
OM beat Nîmes (National 1) 2-0 on Saturday thanks to a brace from Vitinha for their first summer preparation match, which was also the first meeting under the new Marseille coach Marcelino. We should not draw too many lessons from these matches in July during which the atmosphere is provided by the cicadas, but at least OM and their new coach have started their common history with a victory.
During this match played behind closed doors at the Commanderie, OM’s training center, Marcelino will still have noticed Vitinha’s double, disappointing since his arrival last winter but who is therefore starting preparation on a good note. note. The Portuguese striker opened the scoring in the 49th minute with a nice instantaneous shot under the bar, before doubling the lead with a dive in the 70th minute. The Spanish technician can also welcome the return to the field of Amine Harit, seriously injured in a knee in November and who played 20 minutes on Saturday.
Serious and solid
For the rest, after only two weeks of work, with a squad to rebuild and many players just back from vacation, Marseille could not work miracles but managed a serious and solid match. For his first match, Marcelino, discreetly installed next to his bench, had aligned his team in a system closer to 4-2-3-1 than his famous 4-4-2.
By force of circumstance, he also had to launch a lot of young players, like Brice Negouai or Ange Lago, who arrived in January to play with the reserves, or Bilal Nadir, at the club for two years but who has never played in a match. official with the professional team. In the second period, he brought in several major players in the squad, such as Mbemba, Rongier, Payet or Kondogbia, one of the two Marseille recruits of the summer. The Brazilian side Renan Lodi, who signed on Friday with OM, did not play.
After this match where they were absolutely never threatened, the Marseillais will leave on Monday for an internship in Germany for a dozen days. They will play two new friendlies there, Saturday against the Belgians of KAS Eupen and on July 27 against the Dutch of Waalwijk. They will then complete their preparation in Marseille with a friendly at the Vélodrome against Bayer Leverkusen.
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