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The most recent edition of the famed Le Classique derby will take place in the Coupe de France as old rivals Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain come face-to-face at the Orange Velodrome in Marseille on Wednesday evening.
The host were on a great purple patch of form but that has now come to an abrupt end following a 3-1 loss to Nice in Ligue 1. Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to steal a 2-1 victory over Toulouse this weekend.
While Marseille boss Igor Tudor is well familiar with the idea of overcoming difficult obstacles and challenges to lead his side to an eye-catching unbeaten run of form with some fantastic football along the way, he came across a worthy rival in charge of Nice last weekend and who was able to thwart their impressive run of form.
The clash between Marseille and OGC Nice was expected to prove an enthralling encounter with end-to-end action. However, it was Didier Digard, managing the opposition dugout who had the last laugh in this duel and he led his side to make light work of Marseille.
Sofiane Diop, Gaetan Laborde, and Billal Brahimi all found the back of the net and it ended up making Ruslan Malinovskyi’s goal for Marseille inconsequential by the end of the game. The hosts had previously gone on a stretch of 10 consecutive matches without losing.
While seeing that wonderful run of form come to an end just before a prolific clash with fellow domestic giants Paris Saint-Germain wasn’t the best preparation that they could’ve asked for ahead of Le Classique, Les Olympiens remain in second place in the league table. This is in large part thanks to Lens’ underwhelming performance against Brest as they could only salvage a 1-1 draw.
Marseille are eight points behind PSG in Ligue 1 and while a title race looks unlikely at this point of the season, they will fancy their chances in the cup competition and focus their attention towards the Coupe de France instead.
Tudor’s side have managed to secure a 2-0 win over Hyeres followed by a 1-0 success over Rennes to make it to the last 16 of the Coupe de France. However, victory in the former contest was marred by Eric Bailly’s bizarre high challenge on Almike Moussa N’Diaye, that ended up hospitalising the stricken midfielder and receiving a seven-game ban for his troubles.
Marseille are of course, veterans in this competition and they have lifted the Coupe de France on 10 occasions in their history. However, success in France’s premier cup competition has been hard to come by in recent memory and they have gone 33 years without lifting the trophy aloft since beating Monaco in the 1989 final. They have also failed to progress beyond the quarter-final of the competition since losing the 2016 showpiece to their rivals here – PSG.
If Marseille are battling a poor patch of recent history, Paris Saint-Germain have their backs against the wall when it comes to luck with injuries. Superstars Neymar Jr and Kylian Mbappe had to catch the action between PSG’s showdown with Toulouse at the Parc des Princes from the medical room.
Despite the absence of the two mega superstars, it was a day of beautiful goals in Paris as Les Parisiens came from behind to secure an important 2-1 win on home turf. Toulouse’s midfield fulcrum Branco Van Den Boomen broke the deadlock with a sublime, low free kick that caught PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma unawares.
However, PSG mounted a strong resistance and eventually managed to turn the situation around. It was right-back Achraf Hakimi who cancelled out Van Den Boomen’s goal with a Messiesque finish with his left foot after making a foray at the edge of the box from the right side.
World champion Lionel Messi then had the last laugh with a trademark finish with his left foot that nestled the ball into the bottom corner as Les Parisiens managed to pick up all three points at home and capitalised on both their league rivals Marseilla and Lens dropping points that weekend. In fact, it allowed them to stretch their lead at the top of the table to eight points.
While Christophe Galtier’s men have hardly summarised consistency this season and have had their fair share of ups and downs, that hasn’t been the case in the Coupe de France where they have faced little to no difficulties up until this point.
A 3-1 defeat of Chateauroux preceded a 7-0 demolition job carried out against sixth-tier minnows Pays de Cassel – where missing star man Kylian Mbappe scored five of PSG’s goals on the day. With that being said though, the 14-time Coupe de France champions are well aware of the dangers of complacency as they were eliminated at this stage of the competition on penalties by Nice last season.
Most of Paris Saint Germain’s problems this season stems from the fact that they are light at the back and have conceded plenty of goals. The Parisiens have been able to keep just two clean sheets in the nine games that they played since the FIFA World Cup break and it will continue to be a point of concern for Galtier heading into the second half of the season.
On the more positive side of things, though, four of PSG’s last five meetings with Classique rivals Marseille have ended in victory, including a narrow 1-0 win when the bitter foes did battle in Ligue 1 in October last year.
MAR vs PSG, Coupe de France
Date: 9th February, 2023
Time: 1:40 AM IST
Venue: Stade Velodrome, Marseille
FORM GUIDE:
Marseille Coupe de France form:
- W
Marseille form (all competitions):
- W-W-W-D-W-L
Paris Saint-Germain Coupe de France form:
- W-W
Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions):
- L-W-W-D-W-W
HEAD-TO-HEAD:
Marseille wins: 16
Draws: 12
Paris Saint-Germain wins: 32
TEAM NEWS:
Marseille Team News:
Eric Bailly, as already discussed above, will continue to serve his ban after that disastrous tackle against Hyeres in the Coupe de France. In fact, it his seventh and final match of the ban and will return to action from this weekend. Meanwhile, Marseille are also set to miss fellow defender Leonardo Balerdi is also out due to yellow card accumulation.
This could result in full-back Sead Kolasinac partnering Samuel Gigot and Chancel Mbemba in a back three for Marseille here. Les Olympiens are also going to miss Amine Harit and Nuno Tavares due to various injuries.
Vitinha – who Marseille stole under the noses of Southampton on deadline day – should be among those to drop out, as Alexis Sanchez, Jordan Veretout, Malinovskyi and Kolasinac prepare for recalls to the first XI.
Paris Saint-Germain Team News:
While Marseille will have to make do in the absence of certain players who are suspended, Paris Saint Germain will gladly welcome Marco Verratti into the fold after the Italian midfielder returned from a two-game suspension. His return to the squad couldn’t have been on a better note as Renato Sanches has withdrawn to the treatment room instead with injury.
The injury-plagued Portuguese lasted just 14 minutes against Toulouse before sustaining a muscular problem, which Galtier fears could sideline him for a few weeks, and he joins Mbappe and Nordi Mukiele as PSG’s definite absentees for this match.
On a more positive note, Galtier has confirmed that both Neymar and Sergio Ramos have made recoveries from their groin injuries and are available to be called up for this fixture. However, centre-back Presnel Kimpembe will need more time to return to the fold after an Achilles problem.
Marseille possible starting lineup:
Lopez; Mbemba, Gigot, Kolasinac; Clauss, Rongier, Veretout, Kabore; Guendouzi, Malinovskyi; Sanchez
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Ramos, Mendes; Vitinha, Verratti, Ruiz; Messi; Neymar, Ekitike
Predictions:
Marseille seem to have undid a lot of the positive momentum with their slumping defeat to Nice last weekend. However, Tudor will remind his side that a lot more is at stake and it can be their day in the cup competition. The return of several players to starting XI will also increase their chances. Les Olympiens have found the back of the net frequently and they will be looking to take advantage of that fact against a leaky PSG defence.
Despite a mini-injury crisis, PSG cannot be overreliant on Messi’s brilliance to bail them out of trouble. They are far from plugging the holes in defence that have been such a chronic problem for the side this year. Therefore, it won’t be surprising to see them being held to a draw by Marseille here even though they possess the necessary wherewithal to win on penalties.
MAR vs PSG Fantasy XI No. 1
MAR vs PSG Fantasy XI No. 2
