Facing Panathinaikos at the Apostolos Nikolaïdis stadium, it was the first official outing for the new formula OM and its recruits Renan Lodi, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Iliman Ndiaye, Ismaïla Sarr and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The latter have shown themselves and often to their advantage, but without avoiding defeat against a vice-champion of Greece, clumsy but overexcited, and finally rewarded with victory. At the very end of the game, a three-way combination allowed Bernard, Brazilian striker of “Pana”, to deceive Pau Lopez closely (1-0, 83rd).
Arranged by coach Marcelino in a device resolutely turned towards the attack, with four offensive players, the Marseillais suffered most of the time against the energetic Greeks determined to play their luck to the full.
Forced to contain their opponents, two Marseillais had received a yellow card after a quarter of an hour, Kondogbia (1st) and NDiaye (15th). The first, warned again shortly after the hour mark (65th), left his partners at ten.
On the half hour, possession was largely in favor of the Greeks (64%), who had lost only one of their 18 league games at home last season. Placed on the back foot, the Phocaeans waited 20 minutes before putting their nose to the window for the first time, but Aubameyang’s header, surprisingly clear in the opposing area, went well above Brignoli’s goal (21st) .
Potentially eight matches until September 1
Dominating but powerless to frame, the Athenians could also have been picked off by the good curling shot of Ounahi, easily captured by Brignoli however (45th).
After the break, the Greek furia resumed with a vengeance on Lopez’s goal, initially sterile – no shot on target – but finally paid off. Almost harmless in the second half, OM, curled up on their goal, ended up giving in. The pressure on OM obviously goes up a notch, but the task does not seem insurmountable to this team in the second leg.
If they qualify on Tuesday at the Vélodrome stadium for the Champions League play-offs, Marseille will likely face Portuguese club Braga, 3-0 winners of Backa Topola, the Serbian champions, in the first leg on Tuesday evening. The outward play-off in Portugal would take place on August 22 or 23 and the return to Marseille on August 29 or 30.
If everything goes according to Marseille’s plans, then Marcelino’s team, between qualifying matches for the C1 and Ligue 1, will play eight matches by September 1. Next outing for the Olympians: against Reims at the Vélodrome stadium, for the resumption of L1 on Saturday (5 p.m.).
