Last summer, Olympique de Marseille formalized the arrival of Fabrizio Ravanelli as an institutional and sports advisor. A return to the club for the former Italian striker, who made his mark between 1997 and 2000 in the Olympian jersey. Although he did not win a title during his time as a player, Ravanelli now has high ambitions for his managerial role.
The Champions League in sight
“I want to put the club back in the place it deserves. OM must play the C1 every year. I want to be remembered as a player who gave everything, but also as a leader whose presence coincided with the start of a new lease of life for OM,” Ravanelli told Le Parisien. Sunday evening's shock against AS Monaco (8:45 p.m.) will be an important step in validating these ambitions. A victory would allow OM to overtake their opponent and move into second place in the Ligue 1 standings, one step closer to recurring qualification for the Champions League.
A key role within the club
Ravanelli's contribution is not limited to his ambition. At a press conference, OM coach Roberto De Zerbi praised his importance within the club: “Ravanelli is decisive within the staff, especially because he played here, through his personality, his intelligence, he knows how to intervene at the right time, using the right words. For the club, its leaders, but also for us on the land, he is there with us during greening. It is an important human resource for us.” Driven by this collaboration between its leaders and its staff, OM hopes to regain consistency in the European elite. Ravanelli, through his vision and experience, could well be the man who guides the club towards a new chapter in its history.
Last September during an interview given to Provencethe native of Perugia spoke about his role as institutional and sporting advisor to Pablo Longoria. “I am an advisor to the president, on the institutional and sporting levels. I share his ideas, as I said, I give him my opinion, advice. I am not here to answer 'amen' to everything that he says when I don't agree. That's why he wanted me to join him, because even if we will always be aligned at the institutional level, I'm also here to develop my ideas, my state of affairs. spirit, not only with the players but also with the supporters and different actors in the city… It's a complete role, because I also talk to the players, as I did with Neal Maupay on certain movements“, he explains. “I like these responsibilities because they give me a feeling of belonging. When I welcome the players to Marignane, I am the first to make them understand what OM is, to explain to them how it will happen for them in Marseille, and how they must adhere to the project.”
