Easy winner of Villarreal on Thursday evening (4-0), Olympique de Marseille confirmed its recovery and can almost already think about the quarter-finals.
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From Marseille, Marcelino left in September with the impression of an unmanageable club, witnessing the open divide between the management and the supporters. The Spanish coach, returning to the south of France with his Villarreal team in the round of 16 first leg of the Europa League, Thursday March 7, certainly had difficulty believing his eyes when he saw the incandescent stands of the Vélodrome, celebrating Marseille’s big victory (4-0).
Since Jean-Louis Gasset took over the team a little over two weeks ago, OM no longer has the same face, in the stands as on the pitch, as that displayed for many weeks at the start. of the year 2024. The Marseille club has had a fourth consecutive victory – all with at least three goals scored – and can already think about the rest of this Europa League.
The quarter-finals are wide open to him even if we won’t get too far ahead, since the Parisian rival suffered a disappointment against a Spanish club with the same advantage in the first leg a few years ago. Villarreal is not FC Barcelona and, even if Marcelino’s team won the Europa League in 2021, Gasset and his players have little to fear from the second leg if the Spaniards show the same level as on Thursday evening. This will certainly not be the case, because the Yellow Submarine went hard, all the same, hitting rock bottom very quickly, with three goals conceded in the first period.
Aubameyang puts on a show, Sarr hurts
Jordan Veretout gave Marseille the advantage with a header, from a very good cross from Jonathan Clauss (23rd), before Yerson Mosquera, the Villarreal defender, offered two gifts to the Phocaeans: an own goal (28th). ) and a penalty for a foul on Ismaïla Sarr in the area. Already top scorer in the competition with seven goals, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang improved his total by converting it without trembling (42nd).
The Marseille striker scored twice with a magnificent left-footed lob (59th), even if we still don’t know if the Gabonese was hoping to make this gesture or a cross. Sarr, for his part, could have widened the gap but Pepe Reina repelled his attempt (73rd), and the Senegalese had already hurt the Spaniards too much anyway, causing the penalty and then the expulsion of Alberto Moreno (61st). ). The full-back came on at the break and therefore did not stay on the pitch for long.
Thursday evening, Villarreal missed everything and will not be able to do worse in a week at the Ceramica stadium, for the return match. OM could try to do just as well and Marseille’s latest outings suggest that they are capable of doing so. “We must not forget that there is a return match“, launched Amine Harit after the meeting at the microphone of M6. In barely two weeks, Jean-Louis Gasset was able to find the words to convince his players that they have the level to reach the summits. With this state of mind , this confidence and this level of play, OM can hope to go far in the competition.