Olympique de Marseille play a good part of its end of the season on Thursday in Lisbon, in the quarter-final first leg of the Europa League against Benfica. Marseille long hoped that their chaotic course would not prevent them from reaching the top 4 and the Champions League.
But a new setback last Friday in Lille (3-1) established the obvious: the step is far too high for this OM. Since a success against Nantes (2-0), OM have in fact suffered four consecutive defeats with 10 goals conceded and only two conceded at the end of a very difficult match at Villarreal. The situation could punish a club which has navigated from crisis to crisis this year and left all its coaches without solution. The task will not be easy, but the two matches to come against the Portuguese should at least make it possible to avoid a final month of unpleasant competition, while the atmosphere already tense around the club could turn into frankly deleterious.