Beat Tottenham or disappear from the front of the stage... Olympique de Marseille, beaten 2-1 in Frankfurt on Wednesday evening, is condemned to the feat during the last day of the Champions League on Tuesday to avoid elimination.
Eight points for Tottenham, seven for Sporting Lisbon and Frankfurt, six for Marseille... Group D has not given its verdict and the four teams can still qualify on the 6th and final day.
For OM, after their two European successes against Lisbon, the return to earth was still hard, in Frankfurt, with culpable defensive errors which offered goals to Kamada and Kolo Muani.
Guendouzi also scored a nice goal, in vain.
The Marseillais are now forced to victory at the Vélodrome against Tottenham on Tuesday, to see the round of 16.
With a draw, the Marseillais would keep a chance to go to the Europa League, on the condition that Frankfurt beat Sporting.
6 - 24% of teams having scored 6 points after 5 matches in a Champions League group stage have qualified for the round of 16 since the new formula introduced in 2003/04 (11/46).
Hope ?
#SGEOM pic.twitter.com/NgjI2Y9qv8
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) October 26, 2022
“Now we have this final in six days, said Igor Tudor, the Marseille coach, after the match.
We can't wait, it's going to be the game of the year.
Guys deserve to play these kind of matches.
»
True to his way of communicating, the Croatian coach presented things from an optimistic point of view: “It was a good match for OM, but not enough to win.
The players gave a lot and I saw a lot of positive things.
What I didn't like was that we weren't tough enough defensively at the start of the game.
We didn't start strong enough mentally, with really the will not to concede goals.
And up front, we ran, we created, but we didn't score a second goal.
They had opportunities, so did we.
»
“Everything is still possible”
After the defeat, Jonathan Clauss followed in the footsteps of his coach: “We have to remain optimistic, we have no choice, confided the right side of OM to the microphone of RMC.
We absolutely wanted to win tonight (Wednesday), it was not done.
Now, we know that everything is still possible and that everything remains to be done.
We will have to prepare very hard to win this match (…) We must not touch this confidence that we have been able to garner, that is what will make us succeed in lasting.
»
For his part, defender Chancel Mbemba did not hide his disappointment: We are disappointed, we had to come back (from Frankfurt) with a point.
We lost, that's the reality of football, but we're not going to give up and keep working because there's one game left at home.
We know very well that we made mistakes but we will continue to work.
That's a lot of defeats and it hurts.
Possible ?
Sure.
First you have to win in the league (in Strasbourg on Saturday).
Against Tottenham, it's going to be war, it's going to be a final.
»
On the Tottenham side, Hugo Lloris, the goalkeeper of the Blues, gave a reading of the event quite similar to those of the Marseillais.
“Before, we will have to play a good match at Bournemouth to bounce back after two defeats in the Premier League, declared Lloris on beIN at the end of the draw against Sporting (1-1), after however having believed himself qualified a few seconds at the favor of a goal from Kane, finally disallowed for offside.
Yes, it's going to be like a final even if we have a slight advantage at kick-off, because a draw is enough for us.
It's a match that you have to play with your head but also your feelings, your heart, put everything on the pitch because every detail counts.
»
In addition, Mamadou Niang, the former Senegalese striker of OM, was realistic and reasonably optimistic at the microphone of RMC: “We would have signed immediately for OM to play their qualification against Tottenham.
We will have to create the feat and OM are capable of it.
They play a good match, which they still lose on mistakes.
Honestly, given what OM can do in sequence, I think he has the qualities to beat Tottenham..."
