“OM’s Champions League hopes in jeopardy: Narrowing qualification path requires mandatory win against Angers”

Published on : 13/05/2023 – 13:36Modified : 13/05/2023 – 13:34

“I watch all the matches, even the L2 and the National. So it would be lying to tell you that I’m not going to watch Lens-Reims. We’re going to hope for a misstep on their part”, smiled Friday Mattéo Guendouzi, attendant at the weekly press conference.

The Marseille midfielder therefore watched Lens-Reims and saw that even at ten against eleven for 70 minutes and even trailing 1-0, the Northerners were unsinkable (2-1 victory) and carried by a dynamic that could well bring them up to second place.

Before receiving the red lantern Angers on Sunday, OM are therefore pushed back to five points and are starting to realize that even a perfect course until the end of the season may not be enough.

So Marseille ruminates, Marseille dwells and Marseille regrets, the points lost stupidly and the arbitration decisions to the contrary. At the time of reckoning, the two draws 2-2 against Strasbourg, each time conceded in the last seconds and after having led 2-0, thus risk being expensive, just like the inexplicable setback suffered at home against Ajaccio (2-1).

– Letter and press release –

But the day after the defeat in Lens, around the Sunday pitches and the children’s matches, it was the name of Clément Turpin that came back to the greatest number. His decision to cancel Alexis Sanchez’s goal at Bollaert, after VAR intervention, could indeed be the turning point of this end of the season and was painfully experienced in Marseille.

She pushed the club’s management to send a letter to Antony Gauthier, the new technical director of arbitration, and to publish a press release listing the arbitration and body decisions deemed unfavorable to OM.

Relaunched on the subject on Friday, Tudor sent the arbitration file and assured that his group only dealt with Angers and, a little, Lens.

“We were sad, me and the team. We wanted a result and we didn’t get it. But we had to move on and prepare for the Angers match because there are still points to take and that we have to play our cards as best we can,” he explained.

“We have to do our best to win our last four games. I think they can lose a game or draw and we have to be ready for that,” added the Croatian technician.

last second

After facing Angers, OM will go to Lille before challenging Brest at the Vélodrome and then ending the season in Ajaccio. The trip to the Mastiffs will not be easy, but Marseille can indeed aim for a full card.

But where could Lens stumble? In Lorient or Auxerre? At home against Ajaccio? The Sang et Or calendar does not really inspire optimism, so Marseille are also keeping an eye on Serie A and the Europa League.

If AS Roma or Juventus won in C3 while finishing in the Top 4 of the Italian championship, third place in L1 would indeed send them directly to C1 pools, without going through the painful third preliminary round and play-offs. .

In any case, Marseille “are not going to let go”, still promised Guendouzi, who summoned the memories of last season, when the qualification for the Champions League fell in the last moments of the championship: “There are four matches left and last season it was decided at the last minute, at the last second.”

© 2023 AFP