Olympique de Marseille were defeated in Reims (1-0) this Wednesday, May 15 during a late match on the 32nd day of Ligue 1. The club thus sees its chances of competing in a European Cup dwindling. Europe next season.
Jean-Louis Gasset’s men remain eighth in the standings and are still three points ahead of Lens (sixth), the last virtual qualifier for a European competition, and Lyon (seventh).
On the occasion of the 34th and final day of the championship on Sunday, the Marseillais will have to win in Le Havre and hope for a misstep from their direct opponents at the same time.
After the semi-final of the Europa League lost to Atalanta Bergamo (4-1, cumulative score), the Marseille club could experience new disillusionment after finishing the 2022-2023 season in third place.
Having to win on the field of a Champagne team which had not tasted victory since March 17 (2-1 against Metz), Marseille lacked creativity, drive and character. Three days after a laborious victory against Lorient (3-1), OM again appeared in difficulty and without any real spirit of revolt once behind, despite the urgency. It was the unfortunate Chancel Mbemba who extended a cross from Junya Ito into his own net (1-0, 33rd).
In Reims, moved up to tenth place, interim coach Samba Diawara has already won his bet. Replacing at short notice Will Still, who left “by mutual agreement” with his management, the former Malian international achieved a first prestigious success, five days after a reassuring draw brought back from Brest (1-1).
At the start of the meeting, the Reims ultras displayed a harsh banner to summarize their club’s season: “European January, since then, good for nothing! » They will not be able to say the same after this meeting. Opposite, freshly out of Europe, Marseille may have to wait a long time before finding it again.
Paris dominates even without its stars
In the other late match of the 32nd day of Ligue 1 played on Wednesday evening, Paris Saint-Germain, already titled and heavily overhauled, won in Nice 2 goals to 1, and put an end to the hopes of the Aiglons of participate in the Champions League next season.
Nice, fifth in the championship and guaranteed to play in the Europa League next season, had to win at home against the French champion to offer itself, during the 34th and final day on Sunday, a “final” against Lille, third, and virtually qualified for the next C1.
The final will not take place. With this defeat, Nice is 4 points behind Losc and Brest, fourth with the same number of points as Lille (58 points) and will no longer be able to beat them at the post during the last championship match.
Paris, on the contrary, deprived of its star Kylian Mbappé, the best passer in Ligue 1, Ousmane Dembélé, and other executives, left in Paris for the final of the Coupe de France against Lyon on May 25 in Lille , has perfectly prepared for the last deadline of his season.
Thanks to its young shoots, aligned on the Côte d’Azur, PSG made up for its defeat last weekend at home against Toulouse (3-1) and perfectly met the expectations of its coach Luis Enrique who had demanded character from his players the day before.
In less than ten minutes, the best defense in Ligue 1 took on water, put to death by the speed and quality of dribbling of Bradley Barcola. The Parisian left winger, expected to appear on the list of 23 or 26 Blues who will participate in the Euro in Germany this summer, unveiled by Didier Deschamps on Thursday, perfectly chose his moment to shine. In the 18th minute, after a throw-in six meters from Marcin Bulka, Barcola took advantage of an error by Jordan Lotomba in front of his area to recover the ball, rely on Fabian Ruiz and adjust the Nice goalkeeper with a strike curled from the inside of the right to open the scoring and score his fourth goal this season.
A few minutes later, the attacker once again overtook Lotomba along the surface, rushed in before crossing hard at ground level for Yoram Zague alone at the penalty point. On his 18th birthday, the young Parisian defender, surprised by Luis Enrique’s line-up at kick-off, had no trouble scoring his first goal in Ligue 1 (2-0, 24th).
During a fast-paced first period, the offensive pressing of both teams cost the defenders on each side dearly. The Parisian storm passed, Nice, which had started the game well, recovered its spirits and got back in the direction of march, taking advantage of a poor restart from Marquinhos to reduce the score thanks to a nice raid from Jeremie Boga concluded by Mohamed Cho (32nd, 2-1).
In the second half, the Aiglons tried everything to force their destiny, but were no longer able to deceive Arnau Tenas, in the Parisian goals in place of Gianluigi Donnarumma on Wednesday.
Their season ends even before their last meeting in Lille, unlike Paris which, without its stars, treated itself to a makeover before the final of the Coupe de France. Lyon can tremble.