It is fashionable, a few weeks before a presidential election, to make the head of state the most stressful post in France. If we had to rank the professions arousing hopes and frustrations, “Olympic Marseille striker” would undoubtedly be ranked high. Indeed, not a season goes by without the endless Arles “grantatakan” not fueling the debates on the Canebière. In this regard, Arkadiusz Milik, double scorer against Qarabag (3-1) , Thursday, February 17, serves as a textbook case.
With his double at the end of the 1st period, @arekmilik9 started the great Olympian victory of the evening! #OMQFK – #UECL pic.twitter.com/349HYUU9sP
– Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) February 17, 2022
We do not take many risks by saying it, the Pole has had a thousand lives since his arrival from Naples thirteen months ago. Important in the revival of OM Sampaoli version in the first half of 2021, he dragged a knee injury like a ball last summer. There followed a flurry of performances when he returned in October. Only one goal in total in the first part of the Ligue 1 season and a precarious status: here and there he was relegated to the bench in favor of the youngster Bamba Dieng, even Dimitri Payet, yet not a specialist in the position.
He was even predicted hell when OM called on Cédric Bakambu in January. The successful debut of the Congolese in Lens, where Milik had not come into play, sounded, for some, the death knell of his Olympian adventure. Relaunched against Angers in early February, the Pole perfectly seized the pole, offering himself a hat-trick. Since then, the machine has not stopped: scorer off the bench in Metz on Sunday, he reiterated against Qarabag on Thursday. In total, the Tychy artificer planted twelve times in eleven outings.
Arkadiusz Milik becomes the top scorer with a European Top 5 club in 2022! #OMQAR
— PokerStars Sports FR (@PSSportsFR) February 17, 2022
For his defense, Milik has more than one string to his bow. With his 86 meter, he has a unique attachment profile in the Marseille workforce. Clever with his head and good in small spaces, he is one of those scorers who is always well placed. His two achievements on Thursday are an illustration of this: on the lookout to close on the first, he positioned himself perfectly in the interval left vacant by a hazardous Qarabag defense on the second.
The one who “do not understand” his absence from the starting XI in Moselle on Sunday may have extinguished the debate as to the nature of the incumbent in the position. Perhaps, because the slightest bad pass will eternally call into question the choices of Jorge Sampaoli. But with eight goals at the start of the calendar year, he is the most prolific striker in the European Top 5. Over the whole century, he is, with 16 goals, OM’s 4th top scorer in mid-February, behind Didier Drogba, Bafétimbi Gomis and Loïc Rémy. Like a nice snub to his detractors.