PSG is OM's historic rival. Since the takeover of the Parisian club in 2011, Paris Saint-Germain has imposed its supremacy in France, and has only let the championship slip away three times. Olympique de Marseille could also have won Ligue 1 according to Rudi Garcia if they had been allowed to keep Bafétimbi Gomis. A legendary season would even have seen the light of day at the Vélodrome.
In the fall of 2016, theABOUT passed under the American flag. Frank McCourta Boston businessman, is part of the circle of billionaires from Uncle Sam's country and set the tone when he bought theMarseille Olympic. The Champions Project was then initiated with the aim of being a regular guest of the European Cup and above all to tickle the Paris Saint–Germain each season for the title of champion of France. On the arrival of McCourtl'About had not won Ligue 1 since the 2009-2010 season with Didier Deschamps.
Rudi Garcia: “If I had kept Bafé, I would have won the French championship with OM and I would have won the Europa League”
In the summer of 2016, a few weeks before the appointment of Rudi Garcia and the redemption of theIF, Shirt Brides disembarked from Swansea through a one-season loan without purchase option. A fourth French club therefore for gomis after theASSEl’ESTAC and the‘OL. And according to Rudi Garcia, gomis seems to have been the missing piece of his puzzle for the rest of his adventures on the bench of theABOUT.
“I have one regret at OM, he is my regret. Bafé leaves after my first season, we finish fifth, qualified for the Europa League, he's an important player, he scored 20 goals with me. We failed to give it importance, so certainly me first, I perhaps wasn't convincing enough with my leaders, but I think that if I had kept Bafé, I would have won the French championship with OM and I would have won the Europa League. I say it like I mean it.”
With Bafétimbi Gomis, OM would have won the Europa League and Ligue 1 in 2018?
Rudi Garcia was the coach of theABOUT from October 2016 to spring 2019 before giving way to Andre Villas–Boas. If we trust his words, it was during the 2017/2018 season that Shirt Brides would have allowed theMarseille Olympicand to win the Ligue Europa and the Ligue 1. As a reminder, players of Garcia had failed in the final against theAtletico Madrid (0-3) and finished in fourth place in the rankings Ligue 115 points behind the champion who was the PSG.
Subsequently, OM twice finished second to PSG in Ligue 1!
Robert De Serve expressed a certain anti-PSG at OM this summer in an interview for The Team in order to clearly communicate the ambitions of theMarseille Olympic and the new sporting project that the Italian inherited. The Marseille club is currently in second place in the ranking, 10 points behind Paris Saint–Germain. The project is therefore currently bearing fruit.
But before this season, theABOUT has twice managed to climb to this position in the final ranking of the 2019/2020 seasons with Andre Villas–Boas and in 2021/2022 with Jorge Sampaoli. However, according to Rudi Garciathe anti-planPSG of Champions Project would have seen the light of day from the 2017/2018 season if theABOUT had made the decision to definitively engage the services of Shirt Brides.
