De Zerbi: Late Drama, Penalty Defeat & Emotional Reaction

He had already beaten the Paris Saint-Germain champion of Europe in the championship, in Ligue 1. Yesterday, in Kuwait City, where the French Super Cup (Trophee des Champions) was played, he came close to scoring another coup but the disappointment was bitter for Roberto DeZerbi: his Marseille, who between 76′ and 87′ they had gone from 0-1 to 2-1 with Greenwood’s penalty and Pacho’s own goal, it was reached 2-2 by PSG in the fifth minute of injury time (only one was missing: goal from Ramos) and then defeated on penaltieswith the decisive errors of O’Riley and Traorè, who the coach wanted back in Marseille after raising him in Sassuolo.

At the end of the match, De Zerbi – subjected to criticism last Sunday for losing at home in the league against Nantes – had an emotional outlet and he told it in the post-match press conference: «I have never cried after a defeat, but this time I did as soon as I entered the locker room: it’s the first thing I said to my team – he revealed – We prepared in a special way against the strongest team in Europe and we deserved to win. It was all there: the game, the character, the technique, the defense. We will have to demand of ourselves to always produce this type of performance, it was the best match in my management of a year and a half in Marseille. The challenge is to always play like we did tonight and not like the last match we lost against Nantes, which was the worst.”