Admirable in courage and buoyed by the tumult at the Stade Vélodrome, OM managed, at the end of their strength, to qualify for the semi-finals of the Europa League on Thursday and to give meaning to the end of the season by eliminating Benfica on penalties (1-0 after, 4 tab to 2, 2-1 defeat in the first leg).
It was Europe which kept OM alive throughout this painful season and which prevented it from being a disaster from A to Z. Ultimately, it is still Europe which could allow Marseille to come out at the top.
Because the Europa League continues for OM, with a double confrontation to come against Atalanta Bergamo, open and which can allow us to dream of a new European final after those of 1991, 1993, 1999, 2004 and 2018.
For OM, the problems began in August with a failed penalty shootout against Panathinaikos in the Champions League play-off. The coach was still called Marcelino and, since then, crises, injuries, disasters and changes of coach have followed one another.
But on Thursday, the terrible session this time turned in the right direction with five perfect strikes for Marseille and two misses for the Portuguese, in a legendary uproar. Angel Di Maria hit the post and Antonio Silva came up short against Pau Lopez, who had once called himself “bad” in the exercise.
More DIY
The Spanish goalkeeper was also one of the big men of this qualification, with several decisive saves, when it was necessary to leave OM alive.
Because even if the Vélodrome was pushing very hard, like the mistral of the day, Marseille had still not scored at the break and were virtually eliminated.
During these first 45 minutes, Marseille’s performance was rather good, but OM were overtaken by the problem that has dogged them since the start of the season: a lack of offensive quality that is truly crippling at these heights.
Iliman Ndiaye thus had the first good opportunity of the match (7th), but then he no longer made the slightest difference, while Amine Harit, lost in his bad choices for weeks now, did everything wrong.
Benfica, for its part, was for a long time content to monitor Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the only Marseille offensive player to really have the goal in his head, and to launch a few counterattacks.
At the break, the exit of Chancel Mbemba then forced Jean-Louis Gasset, Mr. DIY, to rebuild his defense once again, OM finding themselves with an 18-year-old kid, Emran Soglo, and Amir Murillo on the sides , a complementary player who had not played for three months due to injury.
Moumbagna scorer
Marseille, however, held on and even played a little higher, offering themselves several opportunities, wasted again by too much technical imprecision. But all this confirmed that the Portuguese were not terrors.
It was enough to finally play a shot accurately to make them give in when Aubameyang, well launched by Jordan Veretout, overflowed and placed a perfect cross on the head of Faris Moumbagna (1-0, 79th).
The Cameroonian still had two opportunities to qualify for OM, but he did not score and the affair had to go to overtime. There, between two brilliant moves by Aubameyang, Marseille still had to count its men.
Fourbus, Samuel Gigot and Amine Harit thus left their places to young Raimane Daou and Gaël Lafont, known only to a few very assiduous followers of the N3 team coached by Jean-Pierre Papin and the U19 championship.
They fulfilled their role and the rest, the penalties, therefore belonged to OM and their incredible public, who still have a meeting with Europe, on May 2 against Atalanta Bergamo for the semi-final first leg.
Until then, OM have three L1 matches to play. But on Thursday evening, his 9th place in the championship was very far away.
