Admirably brave and encouraged by the tumult at the Stade Vélodrome, OM, at the end of their strength, managed 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 losses to 2, 2-1 loss in the first leg).
It was Europe that kept OM alive through this painful season and prevented it from becoming a disaster from A to Z. Ultimately, it is still Europe that can allow Marseille to come out on top.
Because the Europa League continues for OM, with a double confrontation against Atalanta Bergamo, open and which can allow us to dream of another European final after 1991, 1993, 1999, 2004 and 2018.
For OM, the problems began in August with an unsuccessful penalty shootout against Panathinaikos in the Champions League play-offs. The coach was still called Marcelino, and since then crises, injuries, disasters and coach changes have followed each other.
But on Thursday, the terrible session turned this time in the right direction with five perfect goals for Marseille and two misses for the Portuguese, in a legendary upset. Angel Di Maria hit the post and Antonio Silva came up short against Pau Lopez, who had once called himself “bad” in training.
More DIY
The Spanish goalkeeper was also one of the big men in this qualification, making several crucial saves, when it was necessary to leave OM alive.
Because even though the Vélodrome pushed very hard, like today’s mistral, Marseille still hadn’t scored at the break and were virtually eliminated.
During these first 45 minutes, Marseille’s performance was quite good, but OM were overtaken by the problem that has dogged them since the start of the season: a lack of attacking quality that is truly crippling at these heights.
Iliman Ndiaye thus had the game’s first good opportunity (7th), but then he no longer made the slightest difference, while Amine Harit, losing in his poor choices for several weeks now, did everything wrong.
Benfica, for their part, were content for long to monitor Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the only attacking Marseille player who really had the goal in mind, and to launch a few counter-attacks.
At half-time, the exit of Chancel Mbemba forced Jean-Louis Gasset, Mr. DIY, to rebuild his defense again, and OM found themselves with an 18-year-old boy, Emran Soglo, and Amir Murillo on the sides, a complementary player who had not played in three months due to injury.
Moumbagna scorer
However, Marseille held on and even played a bit higher, giving themselves several opportunities, wasted again due to too much technical inaccuracy. But all this confirmed that the Portuguese were no terrors.
It was enough to finally play a shot accurately to make them concede when Aubameyang, well launched by Jordan Veretout, floated over and placed a perfect cross on the head of Faris Moumbagna (1-0, 79.).
The Cameroonian still had two chances to qualify for the 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 their men.
Fourbus, Samuel Gigot and Amine Harit thus left their places to youngsters Raimane Daou and Gaël Lafont, known only to a few very diligent supporters 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 crowd, who still have a meeting with Europe, on May 2 against Atalanta Bergamo for the first leg of the semi-final.
Until then, OM have three L1 matches to play. But on Thursday night, his 9th place in the championship was very far away.
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