“Football is cruel”, regrets Pablo Longoria, the president of OM

2023-08-16 08:50:36

The president of Olympique de Marseille Pablo Longoria said on Tuesday after the elimination of his club by Panathinaikos in the third preliminary round of C1 that “football is cruel”.

A cruel and terrible disillusionment match for Olympique de Marseille, which dominated Panathinaikos on Tuesday evening. Despite the 2-1 success, Marcelino’s men are eliminated from the C1 after the terrible penalty shootout. “We share the disappointment of the supporters (…) football is cruel“, said Longoria, specifying that the qualification for the Champions League “was one of the first objectives of the seasonof OM. “We had a match where we have nothing to reproach our players, neither in attitude, nor in behavior, or in the game in general. It’s hard, it’s hard“, this defeat on penalties (5-3) at the Vélodrome.

OM, who came 3rd last season in the championship, had to hope to play the C1 go through a 3rd preliminary round then a return match of play-offs. But the club will have to settle for the Europa League after being eliminated by the Greeks of Panathinaikos (1-0; 1-2; 5 tab to 3).

But Longoria wanted to be reassuring, assuring that the club was “always anchored on a project, nothing changes». «The difference between C1 and C3 is not that much. In particular, we made projections at the start of the season, imagining all the different scenarios. It is a natural economic difference, but also of prestige, for our supporters, our staff, our sponsors. It changes the season a little but the projects remain the same because we had recorded the financial balance“, according to him.

Marseille’s elimination would be due to “a very bad first leg” but also during the return match at “decisions which are borderline, which we do not share: the penalty on Mattéo (Guendouzi), there is a similar action at the end of the match. But there’s always cruelty in this sport“. He also assured that this defeat would not affect the projects of the transfer window, which closes on August 31, the club having “no financial need to sell players. We are in a position where we had planned everything as a scenario».