Mourning Marseille Continue Winning
With their heads left spinning after a dramatic Saturday, Marseille must somehow compose themselves ahead of Wednesday evening’s vital match against Brann.
Two supporters were left dead and four seriously wounded as a coach carrying a group of the club’s supporters crashed en route to Saturday’s Ligue 1 fixture in Le Havre. Prior to kick-off, president Pape Diouf, on the verge of breaking down with emotion, laid a wreath beside the stand that housed the remaining fans. A minute of silence was impeccably observed while the wife and son of one of the deceased supporters was introduced on the pitch.
Somewhat understandably, Marseille performed as if their minds were elsewhere. A Bolo Zenden free-kick was enough to edge out their determined and, at times, slick looking opponents as Marseille just had enough class to negate the mental fatigue the side was clearly feeling.
“For the fans” was the message that came from the victorious camp after the game. If anything, playing their first match at the Stade Vélodrome after the tragedy on Wednesday, the same attitude will be required.
It is sure to be another emotional night in the Mediterranean port, which has united in one to mourn. Marseille’s players cannot afford to get caught up in the occasion, as right-back Laurent Bonnart warned in an interview to the club’s official website yesterday.
Brann pushed Marseille hard in the first leg a fortnight ago with only a Benoït Cheyrou goal separating the sides. At home, swept along by the emotion of their fanatical support, Marseille should be strong enough to win the second leg and progress to the group stages of World football’s richest competition.
Brann Blown It?
Aiming to spoil their occasion will be the relative minnows of SK Brann. The Bergen club won the Norwegian championship last season but have not threatened to repeat the feat as their form has tailed off dramatically this season.
After 18 games of the Tippeligaen season, Brann sit in ninth spot with the thoroughly average record of having split their wins, draws and losses evenly. Recent weeks have shown their progress stalling further as Mons Ivar Mjelde’s side have won just one of their last six league matches and even that was against bottom-dwellers Ham-Kam.
Since the departure of the prolific Thorstein Helstad, who will be an adversary of Marseille’s later in the season with his new club Le Mans, Brann have yet to record a positive result and have scored only six times in seven matches (and four of those came against the aforementioned Ham-Kam).
If the first leg is anything to go by, Brann, which is, incidentally, Norwegian for fire, will adopt a physical approach. Within seconds of the first leg beginning, Benoit Cheyrou was left prone on the turf by Huseklepp, and so Marseille should brace themselves for a bruising encounter.
Brann gave their French opponents something to mull over in the closing stages of the first leg as Vaagan Moen’s powerful free-kick left the visiting bar shaking and Mandanda looking distinctly beaten. Having reached the last 32 of the UEFA Cup last season, where Everton would eventually oust them, Brann are not a side devoid of European pedigree and will be given the respect they deserve by Marseille
RECENT FORM
Marseille
26/07 A AC Ajaccio 2-1
02/08 N Toulouse 0-0
09/08 A Rennes 4-4
13/08 A SK Brann 1-0
17/08 H Auxerre 4-0
23/08 A Le Havre 1-0
Brann
29/07 H Ventspils 1-0
02/08 H Ham Kam 4-1
05/08 A Ventspils 1-2
09/08 A Stromsgodset 0-2
13/08 H Marseille 0-1
24/08 H Rosenberg 0-0
TEAM NEWS
Marseille
Following the weekend’s victory over Le Havre, Marseille have no new injury problems. Eric Gerets will not be able to pick either Gael Givet or Mathieu Valbuena in his side due to injury problems while Julien Rodriguez is not fit enough to return to the starting eleven either. New signing Mamadou Samassa is, of course, not eligible while Hatem Ben Arfa has recently complained of feeling jaded and will not want to play the entire match; the excellent recent form being displayed by Ziani, Zenden and Grondin means that he will not have to. Zubar, who was sent-off late on in Le Havre, will probably start as he is suspended for the weekend Ligue 1 clash with Sochaux and Erbate is injured. Koné is doubtful.
Probable line-up: Mandanda; Bonnart; Taiwo, Hilton, Zubar; Cheyrou, Mbami, Cana; Ben Arfa, Ziani, Niang
Brann
Having played only one match since the first leg a fortnight ago has allowed Brann’s squad to nurse any bumps that their players were carrying. As a result, the Norwegians expect to travel to France with a full compliment of players to select from. Expect them to start in a 4-4-2 formation and play with a direct style, committing more players forward as the match wears on.
Probable line-up: Opdal; Dahl, Sigurdsson, Björnsson, Hanstveit; El Fakiri, Bakke, Solli, Vaagan Moen; Demba-Nyren, Karadas
PREDICTION
Brann’s chance to surprise Marseille was lost in the first leg. The French club are gaining match sharpness all the time and have lost a goal in only one of four competitive matches this season (although they did contrive to concede four in that particular match). With a plethora of attacking threats, Marseille will win this tie and progress to the Champions League proper but Brann’s resistance will be stubborn.
Marseille 2-0 Brann