2023-10-05 22:45:39
When Marseille-Brighton kicked off in the Europa League (2-2), at 6:45 p.m. this Thursday, the Vélodrome stadium sounded almost hollow. Not because the Marseille supporters, tired of a month and a half without a victory, had decided to stay away from the stands. But because many of the 63,000 faithful in the Boulevard Michelet enclosure had all the difficulty in the world getting there.
For security reasons, the 3,000 English supporters were parked at Joliette (seven kilometers from the pitch) before being escorted to the Olympian stands. To facilitate their transport, the Joliette tunnel, very popular with local motorists to reach the stadium area passing under the city, was closed to traffic.
Result, a huge bazaar in many arteries of the Marseille city, accentuated by the advanced schedule of the match (6:45 p.m.). The vehicles of football fans mixed with those of people leaving work. A chaos reminiscent of that experienced on May 5, 2022 in the semi-final of the Europa Conference League between OM and Feyenoord Rotterdam.
Microphone attendant for Canal + Foot, former kid Samir Nasri himself almost missed the match! The ex-Olympian was counting on his sister to drive him around the Vélodrome. But he got completely stuck in traffic. The former Arsenal or Manchester City midfielder then opened the car window to hail the first biker who passed. He recognized him and dropped him off safely, just four minutes late than the scheduled time. A beautiful Marseille story.
“It was a real journey!” he said on air when he went on air in the… 5th minute of the match. As a Marseillais, I was really surprised by the traffic. So sorry for the delay…”
The only problem was a maneuver carried out without a helmet, bordering on a red card for safety…
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