Olympique de Marseille teeters at all times close to the self-destruct button, but after this week the club have momentarily taken a step back from the brink. The crisis meetings that have dominated the recent coverage look for the moment to have settled things, but anything less than a convincing victory against FC Metz could see the button firmly pressed.
However, Metz have given Marseille a run for their money in the past week as frustrations over the state of the club spilt out into a standoff between supporters and the police following the latest loss to FC Lorient. It was clear that no matter the result, one team would look to have a fiery weekend ahead.
Marseille were provided time on the ball as Metz sat back and tried to make themselves as compact as possible. It was clear that the visitors were looking to try their luck in transition, and almost found their opportunity when they won the ball deep in their half and quickly turned defence into attack. Marseille scrambled back as Metz attacked with numbers but a poor cross ended the hope.
The hosts were dominant and felt aggrieved to not receive a penalty after two glaring errors from the Metz goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja. The crowd grew increasingly incensed with the decisions going against them, and the whistles soon rang out when Samuel Gigot’s tackle on Georges Mikautadze was referred to VAR.
The defender was adjudged to have taken down the Georgian forward when he was the last man meaning his yellow card was upgraded to a red, and the pressure was once again on the hosts. The rest of the half was far more end-to-end as Metz looked to take advantage of the game state and put pressure on a Marseille side in desperate need of a result.
Marseille struck
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