Marcelino gone, Longoria behind: on the bench and in the stands, what face for OM at Ajax and PSG?

2023-09-20 17:45:45

For the moment, there is not much certainty as to the face that Olympique de Marseille will present this Thursday, for its entry into the Europa League against Ajax (9 p.m.), or this Sunday, for the ” Classic” against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes (8:45 p.m.). Not so much on the pitch, where a typical team has emerged in recent weeks. But rather on the bench or in the stands, where the upheavals have been numerous since Tuesday and should continue all week.

When it was time to board for the Netherlands this Wednesday at midday, the Olympian players were alone on the tarmac and on the plane. Marcelino, their Spanish coach who arrived this summer to succeed the Croatian Igor Tudor, did not in fact take the plane, a source close to the matter confirmed to AFP.

An Abardonado-Friio ticket at the head of the first team?

Shamed by OM supporters for the style of play – or the absence of a style of play – practiced by his players, the Asturian coach should not regain the head of the team. According to this same source, while the name of Jean-Pierre Papin had been mentioned in the press for a while, he should quickly be officially dismissed from his position and replaced by a new duo for an interim period of indefinite duration: Jacques Abardonado, member of Marcelino’s staff and David Friio, sports director of the club.

Abardonado, alias “Pancho”, should, however, be alone on the bench Thursday evening against Ajax, David Friio being assigned to a representative role, in the same way as Papin who was also on the trip. Because beyond the absence of Marcelino, OM will also be without a president in the Netherlands, Pablo Longoria having also renounced the trip, along with several members of the Marseille board.

The Spanish president of OM, the club’s football director Javier Ribalta, the general manager Pedro Iriondo and the financial director Stéphane Tessier have in fact decided to “step back” to “think” about their future within the club , a source close to the matter announced to AFP on Tuesday evening. And none of the four men therefore headed to Amsterdam on Wednesday.

In the entourage of Frank McCourt, the American owner of the most “fada” of French clubs, who should communicate officially during the day, we nevertheless contested on Wednesday this “withdrawal” of President Longoria and his closest collaborators in the face of the anger of groups of supporters, which culminated on Monday during a meeting between them and the club’s leaders at the Commanderie, the Olympian training center.

Nothing says to date whether this ticket, with Abardonado on the bench and Papin and Friio in the stands, will be the same one that will take OM to the Parc des Princes this Sunday. Before these two extremely important meetings, OM is in any case plunged into a strange crisis which does not bode well on the field. And two consecutive bad results, after a season where the only disappointment of the season came during the 3rd preliminary round of the Champions League against Panathinaikos, would plunge the Phocaean club even further into doubt.