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His word is just and precious. At 34, Pablo Longoria impresses everyone in his role as president of Olympique de Marseille. With him, the Marseillais are very close to finding the Champions League. After the victory in the Europa League Conference, and before the reception of Montpellier this weekend, he spoke at length in the columns of Sportaddressing in particular the case of Jorge Sampaoli and his choice to have him appointed:
“These are very passionate cities”
“Sampaoli is a person who might have been born in Marseille. I compare a lot the atmosphere that exists in Marseille around football with that which can exist in Buenos Aires, Rosario or Montevideo. These are very passionate cities, football , where it’s love, it’s hate, it’s tragedy… These are the values that are passed on to you in the streets every day. And Jorge’s (Sampaoli’s) choice is the choice of ‘a passionate, ultra-skilled person with a style of play that I think is what our fans want to see on the pitch,” he said, before turning to the club’s goal: “Our medium-term objective is to use our participation in the Champions League to be able to develop a project that allows us each year to take a step closer to competitiveness and stability.”
“Every team has great players”
Subsequently, he addressed the case of his rival, Paris Saint-Germain, and in particular the arrival of a certain Lionel Messi in the transfer window this summer: “He always favors the arrival of great players in a championship. I considers that Ligue 1 has become one of the best leagues in Europe. Every team has great players, every game is really competitive, there is a huge equality of results. You see it in the fight for the upper zone, there are a lot of teams in a very short points gap. This has been possible because many medium or small clubs have managed to keep their young players who have historically sold. The agreement with CVC to strengthen Ligue 1 will also help clubs retain more talent and I believe that Ligue 1 is a league with a very significant capacity for future growth. Each time a player who has spent his entire career at the same club leaves, the moment of the separation is news that surprises everyone. We football fans expected a career for Messi with an end to Barcelona or a symbolic end to Newell for all that means and he never had the opportunity to develop playing football at Rosario .”
“Any club Mateu can work in…”
Finally, the Catalan daily asked him regarding his opinion on Barça de Xavi, masterfully led by Mateu Alemany: “Mateu is a genius, he is the most intelligent person in European football. We see Barcelona’s latest results and I’m very happy for him because he deserves it. Any club Mateu can work at as a manager, and with the freedom to do what he has in mind, will be at the top. That’s a management genius, knowing how to read the small details, make important decisions”, he explained, enough to make Barça fans smile!
to summarize
Pablo Longoria, the president of Olympique de Marseille (OM) spoke regarding the arrival of Messi at PSG, the choice of Jorge Sampaoli, or even Barça and his new boss Mateu Alemany who, according to him, is doing very good work.