It makes no sense.
OM, who remained on 16 defeats in 17 Champions League matches, made short work of Sporting Portugal, a week ago, in a Vélodrome stadium behind closed doors (4-1).
European complex swept away, Marseille should, logically, have approached this trip to Lisbon with full confidence.
But the quick red card from Sporting (23rd) had tarnished the bottom of the Olympian victory.
Above all, the home defeat last Saturday against AC Ajaccio (1-2), then Ligue 1 red lantern, plunged OM into doubt.
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“
I find it difficult to explain this defeat.
In fact, we only played 15 minutes
, ”said Marseille coach Igor Tudor after the match.
Nothing suggested that OM, in a well-filled stadium this time, and against a promoted player deemed weak far from their Corsican lands, would concede their first defeat of the season in L1.
"
Some defeats are good, it sets the record straight
," said Dimitri Payet, penalty scorer against Ajaccio.
An advantage with the score (1-0) that OM let go, forgetting to put the basic ingredients.
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At Sporting, a lack of involvement will be all the less forgivable.
“
We played more than an hour at 11 against 10
” last week, reminded Tudor.
“
The second leg will be different, away from home, with their fans.
It will be very difficult.
“Especially since the Lisbon people had won their first two C1 matches, in Frankfurt (0-3) and against Tottenham (2-0).
Quite the opposite of OM, which can however become leader of group D in the event of success on Wednesday, and again a draw between the English and the Germans.
A scenario that lends itself to dreaming, and that Tudor would surely not have imagined after the setback without flinching at the Vélodrome, against Frankfurt (0-1).
"
As if we were impressed by this Champions League match at home
," said the Croatian coach.
To make the Sporting bend again, it does not have a multitude of levers.
Payet, despite his goal on Saturday, does not start his season.
Another attacking midfielder, Gerson, yet the team's engine last season, continues to draw.
The relative depth of the workforce poses drawbacks, in an already busy schedule and tightened by the presence of a World Cup in winter.
It is between the hope of a fight for the knockout stages of the Champions League, which would pay off big in sporting appeal and in the wallet, and the fear of a last group place synonymous with non- European spring, that OM sets foot in Portugal.
And in a corner of his head, the timeless Classic against PSG.
If they were to win at the Parc des Princes on Sunday (8:45 p.m.), the Phocaeans would return to equal points with the Parisian leader.
This week, for OM, it's all or nothing.