Lisbon (AFP)

Fortunately, Moussa Marega has broad shoulders.

Survivor of the downsizing that hit FC Porto forwards in the summer transfer window, the Malian international has the heavy responsibility of leading the charge against Marseille, Wednesday in the 4th day of the Champions League (9:00 p.m. / 8:00 p.m. GMT).

With only three goals in ten games, including the opener against OM in Porto's first leg victory (3-0), the 29-year-old center-forward has quietly started his fifth season with the Dragons. from northern Portugal.

But his experience in the Champions League (7 goals in 18 matches) is unmatched among the offensive arsenal available to coach Sérgio Conceiçao.

Safe haven for a club in need of money after a season crowned by a championship-cup double but disappointing on the European scene, the Franco-Malian born in Les Ulis, in the Paris region, saw his main competitors leave last summer. while he himself would have been the subject of offers notably from the Premier League.

Cameroonian international Vincent Aboubakar, at the end of his contract, has taken over the management of Besiktas in Turkey, Cape Verdean international Zé Luis has been transferred to Lokomotiv Moscow and Brazilian Tiquinho Soares has been sold to Chinese Tianjin Teda.

- Spared in Cup -

Anxious not to find themselves again in the sights of financial fair play, Porto also had to resolve to sell the most beautiful jewel of its nursery: the Portuguese hope Fabio Silva, recruited at 18 years by Wolverhampton for 40 million d 'euros.

To compensate for all these departures as N.9, the club has hired Iranian international Mehdi Taremi, Brazilian Evanilson and Spaniard Toni Martinez.

This weekend, during a Portuguese Cup match won (2-0) against the modest Fabril Barreiro (3rd div.), Conceiçao successfully tested the Taremi-Martinez duo.

The two men have signed a goal each, but the status of chief scorer of Marega, left to rest for this meeting, remains untouchable.

Last season, however, was not easy for the striker with an imposing physique (1m83, 80 kg).

Less effective in front of goal (15 goals in 45 games, against 21 in 47 games the year before), the former Amiens striker had also found himself at the center of an extra-sporting controversy.

Victim of racist cries on the lawn of his previous club, Vitoria Guimaraes, he struck the spirits when he left the field in the middle of the match, and some rumors then attributed to him wanting to leave Portugal.

- "No technique?"

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More recently, after a defeat for Porto at the end of October on the ground of Paços de Ferreira (3-2), where he had caused a penalty against his team, Marega had expressed on social networks his annoyance towards the critics who, on a recurring basis , point out his rudimentary technique.

"Difficult times exist. You speak really, really badly. When better times come, do not come and congratulate me", wrote the player, never been to a training center and who was still evolving at the amateur level while he was in his twenties.

Faced with his detractors, Marega has always been able to count on the unfailing support of his coach, who appreciates players who are generous in their efforts and who are physically reliable.

"Marega has no technique? The quality of a player is not only seen in the fuss he can make. Otherwise we would go to the circus or the beach, with a little ball on the nose like sea lions. Football is not that, "Conceiçao said at the end of September in an interview with the weekly Expresso.

Wednesday at the Stade Vélodrome, Marega's mission will be simple: to carry the Porto attack to a success that would bring him closer to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

© 2020 AFP