ZCZC
BSP-09
FBL-FRA-LIGUE1
Marseille await Sampaoli in hope of turning around troubled season
PARIS, Feb 26, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Marseille fans are awaiting the arrival
of Jorge Sampaoli in the hope the fiery Argentine might revive a team that
has slumped down the Ligue 1 table while the club is in crisis behind the
scenes.
The former European champions lie in seventh place as they prepare to host
bitter rivals Lyon on Sunday, almost a month after Andre Villas-Boas was
removed as coach following a row over transfer policy.
They have won just once in nine league games, jeopardising their chances
of qualifying for Europe next season.
Meanwhile, the club is still reeling from the violent January attack on
their training ground by several hundred protesting supporters, one of whom
this week received a three-month prison sentence while 11 others were handed
suspended jail terms. Organised supporters groups are also calling for
unpopular president Jacques-Henri Eyraud to resign.
Into this volatile atmosphere is expected to walk Sampaoli, the 60-year-
old Argentine who coached his country at the 2018 World Cup and this week
announced his departure from Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro.
Sampaoli previously won the Copa America with Chile in 2015 and spent a
season in Spain with Sevilla.
His explosive character could make him either the perfect fit for a club
seemingly always on the verge of a crisis, or someone who may only add to the
sense of perpetual turmoil.
Marseille’s previous experience with an Argentine coach, under Marcelo
Bielsa in 2014/15, is still fondly remembered at the Velodrome despite
results tailing away after a brilliant start.
The rivalry between Marseille and Lyon has grown over the last decade with
the two clubs often competing with each other for Champions League
qualification just as Paris Saint-Germain have dominated in Ligue 1.
However Lyon are now locked in a four-way battle for the title along with
Lille, PSG and Monaco.
Rudi Garcia’s team come into the weekend in second place, three points
behind leaders Lille and a point above PSG in third.
One to watch: Laurent Koscielny
Bordeaux must have hoped the arrival of such a high calibre player as
Laurent Koscielny in 2019 would help the six-time champions compete towards
the top of Ligue 1 again.
However, after back-to-back bottom-half finishes they find themselves
again struggling in mid-table in this campaign.
They play Metz on Saturday having taken just one point from their last
five games, a miserable run that led to captain Koscielny, the former Arsenal
and France star, launching a scathing attack on his team-mates on Thursday.
“The atmosphere is not great, really not great. There are so many players
coming to the end of their contracts, who want to leave, and who it is
difficult to feel any great desire to work with,” admitted the 35-year-old
defender, who spent nine years at Arsenal and won 51 France caps.
“We are at the end of a cycle and there needs to be a clear-out,” he said,
adding that he “struggles” with some of his team-mates and is not in a happy
place at the club.
“I am definitely not going to say I am happy, apart from off the field
with my family.
“There are good guys here. Some are not so good but there are some good
guys and I worry for them.”
Key stats
6 – The number of defeats suffered this season by PSG, already the most
they have suffered in a whole campaign since losing eight times in 2010/11,
the last season before the Qatari takeover.
11 – Monaco’s win in Paris last weekend stretched their unbeaten streak to
11 games.
2 – Marseille have won just two of their last 20 league meetings with
Lyon.
Fixtures (Kick-offs GMT)
Friday
Rennes v Nice (2000)
Saturday
Bordeaux v Metz (1200), Dijon v Paris Saint-Germain (1600)
Sunday
Monaco v Brest (1200), Angers v Lens, Lorient v Saint-Etienne, Nimes v
Nantes, Reims v Montpellier (all 1400), Lille v Strasbourg (1600), Marseille
v Lyon (2000)
BSS/AFP/BZC/1616HRS