Marseilles (AFP)

A safe bet for the 2019-2020 financial year, Valentin Rongier had a black Tuesday with Marseille: his fatal mistake offered Manchester City the first goal and lead OM from the start, beaten 3-0 on the second day of Champions League.

The hazardous receding pass turned into the offering for the opponent.

Marseille midfielder Valentin Rongier shifted perfectly at the entrance to his own area Kevin de Bruyne who only had to center in Ferran Torres' race for the opening of the Mancunian scoring.

Fatal error for the Olympians who did not have time to cast doubt on the Citizens, already in front of the scoreboard after less than 18 minutes of play.

The blunder of the former Nantes captain is all the more regrettable as it arose out of one of the rare possibilities for the Marseillais to exit vertical balls.

Alvaro, who had perfectly read De Bruyne's pass and handed the ball to Rongier in one touch, was also the first surprised by the former Canary's choice to play behind: Nemanja Radonjic was free in relay.

Not yet stifled by the counter-pressing of Pep Guardiola's men, Valentin Rongier, a hard-working midfielder and ball scraper, seems to have been the victim of his tendency to play it safe.

The N.21 Olympian only missed three transmissions against Manchester City, including the one that turned into the penultimate pass for the Citizens.

- Powerless -

A figure which illustrates both the cruelty of this action for Rongier, as a propensity to play backwards, a choice in theory less risky.

After starting the match in the middle right side, he quickly switched with Michaël Cuisance on the left side to find himself in the zone of Raheem Sterling, the main offensive weapon of the Sky Blue on Tuesday.

This replacement initially paid off.

Rongier, 25 and who was playing only his second European match, dispossessed Sterling of the ball, ready to arm a strike (15th).

But his blunder made him dive mentally.

The joker recruited in the summer of 2019 was guilty of a fault far from necessary on Sterling, yet on the decline (20th).

An action that offered a dangerous free kick to Belgian maestro De Bruyne and a scoring opportunity: Aymeric Laporte, at the reception, forced Steve Mandanda to intervene.

After this very delicate start, Rongier showed good projection (29th) on one of OM's first forays into City's camp.

By staying high, he also allowed a fastball recovery after returning from the locker room (48th).

Beyond these rare actions, he was the rest of the time powerless, like his partners.

Andre Villas Boas put an end to his races, often in a vacuum, by bringing in his place Morgan Sanson (64th), with a more offensive profile without changing the course of the match.

© 2020 AFP