Players from OM and PSG united to face FC Barcelona. This original scenario played out almost fifty years ago at the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille.
They were able to say, “ I was there“. The approximately 13,000 spectators present at the Vélodrome stadium on August 18, 1975 witnessed a rather original friendly match. Players from OM and PSG united to form a team called to challenge FC Barcelona which included the Dutchman Johan Cruyff, one of the greatest footballers in history.
« At that time, there was no rivalry and there was very good understanding between us and the Parisians. », testifies Roland Gransart, for the newspaper The Marseillaise. An OM player, Gransart was also the coach of the return to D1 at the end of the 1983-1984 season. But let's go back almost 10 years.
Barça brought down
PSG players, goalkeeper Ilija Pantelic, defender Humberto Coelho and midfielder Jean-Pierre Dogliani (native of the Marseille city) were lined up in this mixed eleven concocted by the coaches Just Fontaine, coach of the Parisian rise in the elite in 1974, and Jules Zvunka, his Marseille alter ego.
« It started with a friendly atmosphere. But when we opened the scoring, Cruyff and Neeskens pulled out all the stops », still remembers Roland Gransart. The efforts of the orange stars and their Barcelona teammates were not enough. This OM-PSG won 3-1 thanks in particular to the double scored by Boubacar Sarr. The Senegalese striker had worn the Marseille and Paris jerseys in his career.
Marseillais and Parisians married four times
In this year 1975, of which the month of August left great memories for the artist Charlélie Couture, the OM-PSG coalition played three other gala meetings, against Brazilian clubs: February 9, 1975 in Colombes, in the Paris region , against Botafogo (2-3), then twice against Flamengo, on October 11 in Toulouse (0-1) and two days later in Marseille (1-1).
