With the end of the season approaching and their goal of UEFA Champions League qualification slipping away, desperate measures have been taken at Olympique de Marseille in recent weeks. These measures, L’Équipe understands, are giving rise to increasing tension.
The loss against FC Lorient almost a fortnight ago (2-0) was followed by an outburst from sporting director Medhi Benatia and then a one-week camp, during which players slept at the club’s training centre. That camp was cut short just before last weekend’s game against FC Nantes, which ended in a 3-0 humiliation.
The same measure was introduced and, having returned from the Loire and gone straight to the Commanderie, the club’s training centre, they have yet to leave. The sessions have been doubled, and the atmosphere is growing increasingly tense, whilst the feeling of exhaustion, both mental and physical, is also palpable among the playing squad. L’Équipe understands that players are frustrated at being made the scapegoats in this situation and some, who of course have families, are questioning the legality of the extreme measures taken by the Marseille hierarchy.
Wednesday’s session was interrupted by Habib Beye, who was frustrated by Mason Greenwood’s behaviour and by the lack of effort from the team more generally. Matches against Le Havre AC and Stade Rennais are to come for Marseille. The club currently sit seventh in Ligue 1.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
