Olympique de Marseille are aiming to regain a spot amongst Europe’s most highly thought of clubs, and their quest to do so begins with a home tie against Spartak Moscow on Wednesday night.
After OM picked up the French crown in May there was great bluster in the words of the players and staff, with coach Didier Deschamps promising to stay on only if he was given the potential to turn the club into a genuine European force once more.
The 1992 Champions League winners, instead of taking a step forward, have gone backwards, mismanaging their summer transfer campaign and as a result starting the season slowly. Only five points have been accrued from their opening five Ligue 1 matches, with the weekend’s 2-2 draw against Monaco somewhat typical of their season to date.
“I’m frustrated and disappointed, not really with the way we played, as I would have liked the players to have been compensated for their efforts,” Deschamps is quoted as having said by Ligue 1’s official website after the weekend fixture. “We had a lot of chances, while we were lacking a bit in terms of aggression in defence. We know Monaco are good on the break and without many chances they managed to score twice.”
OM have qualified for the last three Champions League group stages, though on each occasion they’ve stumbled, last term in the face of Real Madrid and Milan. The port city is buzzing with excitement as there is a belief this could be the year they make the knock-out stages, though a poor opening result against Spartak would leave les Phoceens on the back foot with Chelsea to come.
Revenge Mission
Marseille may be striking out on their domestic campaign, but Spartak Moscow are already more than halfway through theirs, and at present it doesn’t seem likely that Valery Karpin’s side will enjoy a particularly profitable season. Already they’re seven points off the pace for next term’s Champions League, and they also trail in the race to reach the Europa League.
The summer transfer window as offered up Aiden McGeady as a source of hope to the Moscow club. Signed from Celtic, the Scottish-born Ireland international has been hailed as the man to help turn the club around, and he made a positive contribution on his debut last weekend when he set-up Welliton’s strike in a 2-1 success.
Historically, Spartak have rarely been an especially powerful force on the continent, though they have qualified for the top tier competition on a handful of occasions since the turn of the millennium, never enjoying any form of success.
The UEFA Cup, the forerunner to the Europa League, was therefore a frequent hunting ground, and it was in that competition in 2007-08 that the Meat last met with OM. After losing the opening leg 3-0 in Provence – current Marseille players Benoit Cheyrou and Taye Taiwo amongst the scorers – Spartak claimed the second leg 2-0 but tumbled out of the competition.
Given their middling league form, their poor recent European record and their historical failure against OM, a draw would have to be considered a good achievement for the RPL side in this fixture.
TEAM NEWS
Marseille
Didier Deschamps has a couple of injury issues approaching this fixture, with Souleymane Diawara and Loic Remy both scheduled to miss out. On the other hand, the home boss can welcome back Edouard Cisse and Andre Ayew to his panel after both missed the weekend match due to suspension.
Gabriel Heinze wasn’t given a starting berth on Sunday but will probably replace Stephane Mbia, who looked well short of match sharpness against Monaco, costing his side the second goal.
Andre-Pierre Gignac is not fully match fit, so it’s something of a tossup between him and Brandao for the lone forward role.
Probable Starting XI: Mandanda; Azpilicueta, Hilton, Heinze, Taiwo; Cisse, Cheyrou; Valbuena, Lucho, A. Ayew; Brandao
Spartak
Nikita Bazhenov injured a thigh during training on Sunday so will not take part, while an ankle problem has forced Kirill Kombarov to train separate from the group. There are no concerns over Aiden McGeady’s fitness, despite the Irishman seeming to toil towards the end of the weekend’s match.
Andriy Dikan played in goal at the weekend but is liable to be replaced by Sergei Pesyakov.
Expect to see the exciting Zhano Ananidze come off the bench to try and change the flow of the match if Spartak are struggling.
Probable Starting XI: Pesyakov; Parshivlyuk, Suchy, Pareja, Ivanov; Mcgeady, Ibson, Alex, Sheshukov, Kombarov; Welliton
Prediction
There can be little doubt that Marseille have underperformed thus far this season, making a tricky home tie positively treacherous. In front of a red-hot crowd at Stade Velodrome, les Phoceens should be expected to gain maximum points, though it should be considered a massive surprise if they ended up with only one.
Marseille 2-1 Spartak 
