By inheriting Villarreal in the round of 16 of the Europa League, the Marseillais will cross paths with their ex-coach, Marcelino. The Spaniard resigned from OM in mid-September, the day following a tense meeting between supporters group leaders and management.
We meet once once more. Five months following leaving Olympique de Marseille in a context of strong tension with supporter groups, Marcelino will already cross paths with his former club.
The chance of the draw placed Villarreal, which the 58-year-old Spaniard took over in November, once morest OM in the round of 16 of the Europa League (March 7 and 14). A reunion that promises to be spicy. And a context which should serve as a motivational catalyst for Marseille players, according to Eric Di Meco. Who still has the coach’s hasty departure following less than three months on the Olympian bench in his throat.
“When you play at a high level, you look for levers. And this is one of them”
“I hope that Jean-Louis Gasset will remind the players that this coach left running overnight, and without saying goodbye to them,” he said this Friday in the Super Moscato Show on RMC. “For me, an elimination once morest Villarreal, I would experience it as a humiliation. (…) When you play at a high level, you look for levers. And that (facing Marcelino), that’s one of them.”
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And if at the end, there is elimination of the Marseillais by Marcelino’s team? “That would mean that he would take us out of the European Cups twice!”, exclaims Di Meco, recalling the elimination of OM in the third preliminary round of the Champions League early in the season under the orders of Marcelino. Currently 13th in Liga, the Yellow Submarine finished first in its Europa League group, ahead of Stade Rennes.
Romain Daveau Journalist RMC Sport
