OM, the shield experience to fend off Atalanta and dream of a fourth final

Facing Atalanta Bergamo, Marseille are playing their fourth Europa League semi-final on Thursday, without ever having been eliminated at this stage of the competition.

With his cap screwed on his head and his smile hanging from ear to ear, Jean-Louis Gasset enjoys it. At 71 years old, the firefighter called to the rescue of OM this winter will play his first European semi-final as head coach, Thursday May 2, against Atalanta Bergamo. So, on the eve of the first leg at the Vélodrome, the Marseille coach took advantage of the moment, while displaying Olympian calm, like OM, although far from being favorites in their semi-final.

“Here, it’s not a club but an entire city playing a European Cup semi-final”, summed up the technician who, in a few months, took the temperature of a club and a city which are sublimating themselves on the continental scene. It is not the current season which will change the reputation of OM, very far from its podium objectives in Ligue 1 (7th), but in the race to play a fourth Europa League final in 25 years, after those of 1999, 2004 and 2018. Before that, we will have to overcome the obstacle of the semi-finals: this is good, OM have never been eliminated at this stage in C3.

The Vélodrome, impregnable fortress

It is therefore with a certain force of habit that Marseille approaches this last four of the Europa League, even though Atalanta Bergamo, the executioner of Liverpool in the previous round, stands before them. A team little known to the general French public, but praised by Jean-Louis Gasset: “It’s not the loudest name we’ve had to play in this cup, but it’s the best team we’ve had to face. The coach has been there for eight years, he has consolidated his team year after year, and he tickles the big guys in the Italian championship. It’s a very high-level squad.”

The OM coach also warned: “You have to prepare for a fight. This is a team that wants to challenge you”. A fight that the Marseillais are tackling with a squad that is sticking its tongue out, physically, but with several returns from the infirmary in recent days, including those of Jonathan Clauss, Ismaïla Sarr and Quentin Merlin. “We’ve been building momentum since Benfica, even if we haven’t been fantastic. We have the right state of mind. It must be maintainedappreciates Jean-Louis Gasset. Against Atalanta, we will have to take it up a notch, together, with our public.”

The Marseille coach knows it well: in these major events, one of OM’s strengths is its audience and its stadium. This season, only PSG won there, in Ligue 1. “The Vélodrome is part of the event, it’s up to us to use it in the right way”hopes Jonathan Clauss, It’s up to them to push us and it’s up to us to use this force. The Vélodrome can impress and disrupt the opponent. It’s up to us to use this 10% loss of confidence from the adversary.”. Even if Atalanta Bergamo proved at Anfield, against Liverpool, that it did not fear legendary atmospheres.

“Thursday, they will experience hell at the Vélodrome. If only home matches counted, we would be second in Ligue 1recalled Pablo Longoria, the Marseille president, at the Gazzetta dello Sport. Marseille maintains a special link with Europe; it is no coincidence that it is the only French club to have won the C1. We hope that our DNA will also make the difference against Atalanta.”

Italy kicks them

OM has often forged this link with Europe against Italian clubs. So, when it comes time to challenge Atalanta Bergamo, the memories of AC Milan 1991 (in the quarter-finals of the Champion Clubs’ Cup), Bologna 1999 (semi-final of the UEFA Cup) or the Inter Milan 2004 (UEFA Cup quarter-finals) and 2012 (Champions League round of 16) resurface. In six double confrontations against clubs from La Botte, Marseille have qualified five times for a total of five wins, two draws and four defeats in 11 matches. The most optimistic will also recall the victory in the 1993 Champions League final against AC Milan, even if, nine years later, it was against Parma that OM lost in the Europa League final.

Beyond its history, OM draws on its European experience. In the current locker room, several players (Chancel Mbemba, Jordan Veretout, Geoffrey Kondogbia, etc.) have solid experience of continental games. And among them, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Top scorer in this edition of the C3 with 10 goals, but also in the history of the Europa League, the Gabonese has erased the Marseille record over a season (by adding his two goals in the preliminary round of the Champions League). European signed Didier Drogba, in 2004 (11 goals).

With 13 goals on the continental scene, and 27 in total, he is only five steps away from the 32 achievements of the Ivorian legend in 2003-2004. “He is a great professional, with a lot of serenity and self-confidence. He transmits all that. He has taught us to take a step back sometimes during complicated periods”, recognizes Jonathan Clauss. Scorer in the round of 16, the round of 16 and the quarter-finals, Aubameyang will obviously be Marseille’s main asset in defeating Atalanta Bergamo.

If Marseille has a historical record, the Italians have shown good progress in recent years. Europeans for six of the last seven seasons, the Bergamasques remain in a quarter-final of the Europa League, having also played in an eighth (2021) and a quarter-final (2020) of the Champions League in recent seasons.

And if the statistics make OM the team with the least chance of reaching the final, the Marseillais will remember that this was already the case before their quarter-final against Benfica. “Yes, we can qualify for courage again. It will take other ingredients but courage is one of them…”underlines Jonathan Clauss.