"I watch all the games, even the L2 and the National. So it would be a lie to tell you that I'm not going to watch Lens-Reims. We will hope for a misstep on their part, "smiled Friday Mattéo Guendouzi, attendant at the weekly press conference.

The Marseille midfielder looked at Lens-Reims and saw that even at ten against eleven for 70 minutes and even led 1-0, the Northerners were unsinkable (2-1 victory) and carried by a dynamic that could well bring them to second place.

Before receiving the red lantern Angers on Sunday, OM is pushed back to five points and begins to realize that even a perfect course until the end of the season may not be enough.

So Marseille ruminates, Marseille rehashes and Marseille regrets, the points lost stupidly and the refereeing decisions opposite. At the time of reckoning, the two draws 2-2 against Strasbourg, each time conceded in the last seconds and after leading 2-0, may thus be expensive, as well as the inexplicable defeat suffered at home against Ajaccio (2-1).

- Mail and press release -

But the day after the defeat in Lens, around the Sunday fields and children's matches, it was the name of Clément Turpin that came back to the greatest number. His decision to cancel Alexis Sanchez's goal in Bollaert, after VAR intervention, could indeed be the turning point of this end of the season and was painfully experienced in Marseille.

She pushed the club's management to send a letter to Antony Gauthier, the new technical director of refereeing, and to publish a press release listing the refereeing decisions and instances deemed unfavorable to OM.

Relaunched on the subject on Friday, Tudor sent the arbitration file and assured that his group only dealt with Angers and, a little, Lens.

Marseille's Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez celebrates his team's second goal during the L1 match against Auxerre, in Marseille, on April 30, 2023 © CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP/Archives

"We were sad, me and the team. We wanted a result and we didn't get it. But we had to move forward and prepare for the Angers game because there are still points to take and we have to play our cards as best as possible," he explained.

"We have to do what we can to win our last four games. I think they can lose a game or draw and we have to be ready for that," added the Croatian technician.

Last second

After facing Angers, OM will go to Lille before challenging Brest at the Velodrome and finishing the season in Ajaccio. The trip to the Dogues will not be easy, but Marseille can indeed aim for the full card.

But where could Lens stumble? In Lorient or Auxerre? At home against Ajaccio? The Blood and Gold calendar doesn't really encourage optimism, so Marseille are also keeping an eye on Serie A and the Europa League.

If AS Roma or Juventus won in C3 while finishing in the Top 4 of the Italian championship, third place in L1 would indeed send directly to C1 pools, without going through the painful third preliminary round and play-offs.

In any case, Marseille "will not let go", promised Guendouzi, who summoned the memories of last season, when the qualification for the Champions League had fallen in the last moments of the championship: "There are four games left and last season it was played at the last minute, at the last second."

© 2023 AFP