It’s not quite the Champions League yet, but Marseille have to go through it if they want to see the pools: Largely renewed this summer, new coach Marcelino’s OM kicks off his European season on Wednesday with a third preliminary round trip to Greece, against Panathinaikos.
Flights to Athens always promise a fiery atmosphere, but this time the atmosphere is terribly heightened by the death of an AEK fan, who was stabbed on Monday during clashes with fans of Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb the day before the match between two clubs was finally postponed.
For Wednesday’s match against “Pana”, the movement of Marseille fans, associated with a long-standing friendship with AEK, has been banned by UEFA, and therefore the players have only to discover the atmosphere of the small stadium. Apostolos Nikolaidis.
There, in the city center of the Greek capital, Marseille will launch their European adventure, hoping to ride out the initial August bumps to reach the C1 group stage, matching their sporting ambitions and financial needs.
“The Champions League is very important for us, we all have to work to be there every year,” Marseille president Pablo Longoria reiterated on Monday. “It is also true that playing in these qualifiers is what we deserve compared to last season,” the Spanish leader added.
full body programme
Not disgraceful, the team’s third place win in June, already managed by Igor Tudor, puts two more hurdles on the road to OM, Panathinaikos in the third qualifying round, then the Portuguese from Braga or the Serbs from Backa Topola at the dam, always in August.
Ultimately, the Marseillais find themselves with a daunting schedule for this Back-to-School month, with the potential for eight games between Wednesday and September 1, if they get rid of Panathinaikos.
Full-bodied, the program is made more difficult by the traditional big summer clean-up organized on the transfer window by the Marseille administration.
On Wednesday, OM could start with at least five players who haven’t been around for six weeks: Brazilian Renan Lodi in defence, midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia and forwards Elimane Ndiaye, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ismail Sarr.
Expedited process
“It takes time to get to know each other, but there were preparations and friendlies…on Tuesday.
“We are a team under construction and this is not the best time. If I could choose, I wouldn’t play this match right away (smile). But we knew from the start that it would be like this,” he said. His side was announced by Marcelino at a press conference.
“We tried to speed up the adaptation process. That from the staff to the players and the players to the machine. I am very satisfied with what we showed last week against Bayer Leverkusen (defeat 2-1, editor’s note), which is a team that has already been built. It makes me optimistic about tomorrow, “he explained. The Spanish technician, who had little time to clear his thoughts and establish his system, switched between 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1.
In the face of the Greek vice-champion, who has not played in the Champions League since the 2010-2011 season, Marcelino and his men are still the favourites.
And even if he sends them to the group stage of the Europa League, such a setback in the next qualifying round, the exclusion from this preliminary round will be considered a great failure for OM.
