The Vélodrome had however taken out its clothes of light. But orphan of its conductor Dimitri Payet, Olympique de Marseille failed to overthrow Feyenoord Rotterdam (0-0), Thursday, May 5.
Too imprecise in the last gesture against an impressively calm opponent in the Marseille volcano, the Marseillais missed their chance to play in a sixth European final. Beaten 3-2 in the first leg, OM will have enough to come out frustrated from a European adventure that tastes unfinished.
This return semi-final certainly changed in the 30th minute of play, in a scene that came to recall the Europa League final lost in 2018. Deafening for long minutes, the Vélodrome fell silent when, on the ground, captain Dimitri Payet was only able to get up with the help of the healers. The Reunionese left the lawn limping. OM may then have lost a good part of their hopes for the final.
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In the absence of his number 10, replaced by Arkadiusz Milik, Jorge Sampaoli’s team did not find the fault against Feyenoord. The exit of the Marseille leader coincided with a big highlight for the Dutch club until the break. Apart from a header that was not strong enough from its Polish striker, Marseille then retreated, relieved only by balls blocked by Gerson and William Saliba.
Before his release, Dimitri Payet had on the contrary obtained the two most beautiful situations. Chills ran through the Velodrome when his curled strike from the left, in the middle of the surface, came to dredge the bar.
On returning from the locker room, the Marseillais took over the game, carried by a Vélodrome up to the task. Nevertheless, if the Phocaeans had everything they wanted, systematically winning the duels, they sinned far too much in the penultimate pass or the last gesture, like the completely failed control of Arkadiusz Milik at the 63rd minute, when he was in a position to shoot on goal. The second act was a long litany of balls crossing the surface, without ever finding an Olympian to take them back.
6 – French clubs have been eliminated in 6 of their last 8 C1/C2/C3/C4 semi-finals, the only exceptions being Marseille qualifying against Salzburg in C3 2017/18 and Paris against Leipzig in C1 2019/ 20. Limit. pic.twitter.com/fkkML76zX3
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) May 5, 2022
Author of a breakthrough in the heart of the defense, Valentin Rongier could have freed a Vélodrome which was just waiting for it, but his shot, too soft, did not worry Marciano (54th). Despite the alert on an attempt by Trauner on the hour mark, OM, who had mastery of leather, could not find the extra soul they needed to overthrow Feyenoord. Without a vigilant Steve Mandanda at the end of the match, the Phocaeans would undoubtedly have ended the evening with a defeat.
In the end, Duje Caleta-Car’s blunder on the 3-2 goal in the first leg will have had serious consequences. Marseille will not play in the final of the very first Europa League conference. This will oppose Feyenoord and AS Roma of José Mourinho, who eliminated Leicester on Thursday evening (1-0, 1-1 in the first leg).