The game promised to be unbalanced. It was from the first minute. Elye Wahi reminded his former partners of his existence after just 48 seconds of play. With an easy goal, the Marseille striker quietly launched Olympique de Marseille. The rest took place in the same tone (5-0). Roberto De Zerbi and his players were quickly able to switch to another meeting than the one attended by disarmed Montpellier residents and dead last in Ligue 1.
Next Sunday, Marseille will host Paris Saint-Germain, prolific winner of Strasbourg on Saturday (4-2), at the Vélodrome. For this gala Classico, the Olympians will wear the costume of strong third-place finishers. Lille had risen to their level by holding the Monegasque runner-up in check (0-0), but Adrien Rabiot and his partners are now ahead of the Mastiffs by three points, while accumulating the same delay behind PSG and ASM.
If the OM players started strong, the game did not start at all for their supporters who were supposed to fill the visiting area. A capacity limited to 450 people had been authorized by the authorities. But nearly a thousand of them took the road to reach Montpellier. By decision of the prefect of Hérault François-Xavier Lauch, the police blocked them on the A709, causing tension, clashes, “throws of projectiles” and a huge traffic jam. After these clashes, all the supporters turned back towards Marseille.
Clashes which scandalized Bruno Retailleau, the Minister of the Interior, who decided to bring together, during the week, the football authorities “to take the necessary measures to restore order in the stadiums and on the sidelines of matches” .
As usual, there are often numerous supporters of the Phocaeans in the four corners of all French stadiums. And those who escaped the severity of the authorities therefore had the opportunity to spin their scarf many times, thanks to the efficiency of their protégés.
A full week to prepare
Amine Harit took advantage of all the time he had available in the Montpellier area to catapult the leather under the bar of Benjamin Lecomte (33rd). The goalkeeper was deceived again four minutes later, surprised like his defense by the presence at the forefront of Pierre-Emile Höjberg, author of the recovery at the start of the action.
On one of the rare Hérault counterattacks, the essential Geronimo Rulli reminded the Parisians that he will perhaps be the most difficult goalkeeper to surprise this season. It will also be a question of being wary of the Marseille wingers. Mason Greenwood (58th) and Luis Enrique (73rd) took advantage of the generosity of the most permeable defense in Ligue 1. Faced with a red lantern in numerical inferiority from the hour mark, Marseille therefore did not make any detail, after losing in Strasbourg (1-0) and coming up against Angers (0-0) during the two previous days. For its part, Montpellier is sliding straight towards Ligue 2: 26 goals conceded in 8 matches, this is the most catastrophic record since 1969.
De Zerbi now has a full week to prepare his players for the coming shock and exercise his qualities as a far-sighted and obsessive tactician. Luis Enrique cannot say the same. PSG will first host PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday, before heading to the Old Port.
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