Europa League, semi-final return Atalanta – OM (3-0): Gasset and Marseille disappointed, but focus on the Europe objective in L1

The first to make this observation of helplessness was Pau Lopez. Not reassuring on the feet, but valuable in keeping his team alive in the first period, the Spanish goalkeeper, as always, showed lucidity when analyzing the collective performance. “We are very disappointed, we were never in the match. They were better than us. We didn’t deserve to go to the final, they were above us in all phases of the game. It’s a shame because we had a very good season in the European Cup. I feel sorry for the people who came to Bergamo.”

He was quickly joined by Jean-Louis Gasset, devastated by this major failure. “It’s inexplicable“, lamented the technician at a press conference. “Inexplicable to go from one week to the next, to compete with a good team, and today, to qualify for a final, to be beaten in aggression, in all duels. This is the image of the season: we had, not confidence, but hope compared to the first leg and we fell back into our mistakes“.

The OM technician especially regretted the double face of his team this season, outside the Vélodrome. He again noted this double identity. “A great disappointment, a misunderstanding. A week apart we are able, as many times, to show two faces. Tonight, we didn’t have the aggression, they dominated us, they won all the duels. They wanted it more than us“, he analyzed Canal +. “It often happens outside. But I thought that for a European Cup semi-final we were going to be up to the challenge, but we weren’t. (…) At the Vélodrome we are tigers, outside we are cats.“

For Geoffrey Kondogbia, Marseille did not necessarily miss everything, even if he agreed with Lopez and Gasset’s analysis of the entire match. “To deserve to go to the final, you had to win at home or at home, so yes logically we don’t deserve to qualify.” he noticed on RMCbefore discussing the team’s performance. “Technically we could have done better. We started well, I had the impression that we were in our game. Then, the more the minutes passed, the harder it got.”

This elimination at the gates of the Europa League final leaves OM without this option to qualify for the European Cup next season, and access to the Champions League in addition. There remains the championship to hope to achieve the objective set by Pablo Longoria. Currently 9th with 44 points, and a late match to play against Nice, Marseille is currently five points behind Lens, who occupies the last European seat. We will also have to scrutinize 7th place, qualifying for the Europa Conference League if PSG wins the Coupe de France against OL on May 25. This is occupied by the Rhone club, three points ahead of OM.

In short, all is not lost for Marseille, whose season has so far been a failure, good European run or not. Jean-Louis Gasset’s men can still, at the very least, keep up appearances, before planning ahead with a new project. “Now we have to finish the championship well. We have three very important matches for OM to still be European next year. Everyone must re-mobilize and form a sacred union“, warned Gasset, touched but not sunk.

According to Kondogbia, the end of the season in Ligue 1 will be a real mental test for the group. He will have to quickly turn the page on this failed half-return in great ways. “We have no choice, because we have a match that will happen very quickly. In football, you fall, but you have to get up very quickly. We will be able to measure our reaction capacity.”