French liaison

It is enough for the average fan to glance at the standings of the French championship to make sure for the umpteenth time: the status quo - a position of the same name as the British rock band - is still supported. Pentacampheon "Lyon" again on top. Next to him, on the second line, is another old acquaintance - Olympic (Marseille).

However, all champion titles combined and complete hegemony in the domestic arena of the Gerard Houlet club simply fade in comparison with the truly cordial affection that most fans in France feed on the south coast squad, known worldwide under the acronym “OM”. But the most amazing thing is that the most beloved club in the country has finally returned to its heights almost for the first time since Fabien Barthez still kept the vegetation on his eccentric head.

After the fragrant-foamy Munich evening of the 93rd, when beer was pouring and another head — Basil Boli — broke Milan, there are as many prerequisites for replenishing the Olympic with some trophy of its already dusty club museum by and large, Stud Stud Velodrom has not yet been. Although, in fairness, for 13 years - since the Marseilles tried on the European crown and won their last French gold in the same year, which they later, however, were deprived of - blue and white still came close to triumph. Two participation in the finals of the UEFA Cup - in the 99th and with the inspired Didier Drogba in 2004, a couple of hits in the top five in the domestic championship and several decisive fights for the French Cup sprinkled with tears at once. But - no more than that: every time the more successful rivals crossed the road to the Marseilles.

EMONA'S CHARITY

Of course, along with the never-won medals and cups, the circle of ex-coaches, presidents and other representatives of the club staff also expanded - their crowds could well compete numerically with the heroes of Tolstoy's works. Former Portsmouth mentor Alain Perrin, ex-steering Japanese team Philippe Trussier and never exchanging French Ligue 1 Jean Fernandez - all of them, since January 2004, have not stood the test of the Marseille powder keg. However, under “acting” Albert Emon, who won the championship with OM, being a player in the distant 70s, the club’s affairs, the extent of which could be measured on the Richter scale, settled down.

Last season, Emon, who previously served as assistant coach, received a promotion. Got after disgraced Fernandez left Marseille (criminal threats and intra-club squabble - two versions explaining his departure) and went to the pearl of Burgundy - pastoral Auxerre, where the biggest thing that could threaten him is a tractor accident.

Despite his previous status as an outside observer for a number of years, in the new role, Emon managed to suppress the seemingly natural desire in such cases to start a “big wash”, and the team paid him handsomely. After an unexpected guest defeat in the year before last, from the Nantes who arrived in the relegation zone (OM struck the “canaries” at the moment when they had just changed their coach) and a landslide victory last Sunday over the “Toulouse” Emon’s team lags behind “ Lyon ”by 3 points and 4 ahead of the recent grave digger Schalke -“ Nancy ”. “Alpha and Omega” of a successful start for the southerners - a 5-match winning streak, during which “Marcel” gave the “PSG” master class - 3: 1, getting even with a sworn enemy in his metropolitan den.

The lion's share of the current Olimpik line-up is made up of the very same players who literally in the last round of the 2005/06 championship lost a ticket to the Champions League (competitors played “wrong”), finishing in fifth place with the right to participate in the UEFA Cup . Alas, the Olympians ’European Cup unexpectedly ordered them to live long in the first round of the second most important club tournament in the world. Many still refuse to believe that the French with a total score of 3: 4 lost to the seemingly passable Czech “Mladé Boleslav”.

However, back in the offseason. Having violated the club tradition, Emon preferred minimal changes to global personnel changes, and now his squad, if it does not threaten the dominance of Lyon in the domestic arena, then the champions' schedule maintains how to drink (France delegates three teams to Champions League). Two goals conceded in the 7th round of La Bojoire are exactly the same as Marseille were able to score in the previous six meetings, which included 4 crackers. Add Sunday 3-0 - and get the best indicator for goals conceded in League 1.

NEW GALLAS AND CANTON

The main guarantee of such success, perhaps, was the game of 21-year-old central defender Ronald Zubar, who had already been christened the "second William Gallas." The native of Guadeloupe and the newly made "gunner" are related not only by common roots and powerful athletic physique. Having flashed in “Caen”, which in cool Normandy, just like the ex-Marseille Gallas, Zubar moved to the south of France in the summer, where he had already managed to move the defender of the Senegalese national team, the captain of the “Olympic” Habib Beye to the right edge and himself became indispensable in the center of defense.

Another young player who contributes significantly to club renaissance is the 24-year-old goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso, whom Crystal Palace fans should remember in London. The goalkeeper has been at Marseille since he was 13, his task is to take relay gloves from Barthez, which Carrasso does well, if not to say excellent. His baptism of fire took place a year and a half ago, when now the former guard of the Tricolor gates was serving a six-month suspension - during one of the test matches Barthez “awarded” the Moroccan referee with a spit.

Meanwhile, the owner of the club and one of the Adidas bosses, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, switched to a saving mode, so OM no longer has the solid budget that he had before. The elegant salary of the same Barthez of 250 thousand euros per month and the bright play of his understudy prompted the club to part with the bald deity.

In the middle line of Marseilles, ex-PSG midfielders are Albanian Lorik Cana and Cameroonian Modest M'Bami (both acquired last summer), which form a tiger barricade in front of the four defenders. Together with promising teenager Samir Nasri, they are doing everything to make life difficult for opponents.

Djibril Cisse (leased from Liverpool after Rafa Benitez made him choose to learn Spanish or get out of Anfield) due to a June broken leg, he will have to wait about a month for his team debut, for which he In his own words, he was still sick as a boy. Despite this, not the most brilliant selection of performers in the attack "Olympic" works perfectly. In general, the team’s performance in recent years has provided its founders and shareholders with rich food for thought and must have prompted the following thought: “Wouldn’t we change the club's motto (“ Droit au but ”-“ directly to the goal ”) so that at least to somehow justify the toothlessness of the forwards at the forefront? ”But all this is in the past. Mamadou Nyang and Mikael Pazhis are a classic pair of strikers, but not in the usual combination of “small and large”, but rather reminiscent of Andy Cole – Sheringham retro combination. In addition, the Marseille duet, unlike the ex-Manchester, is in full contact with each other on the field and outside it and does not spare each other's assists.

Pažys - a typical finalizer, indispensable in the lead game, good at passing - is so good at working with the ball that he was nicknamed the “New Canton”. Indeed: when the ex-striker Sochaux takes on his tricks, the comparison with the brutal Eric does not seem like a big exaggeration. The visiting card of the Senegalese Niang is, of course, speed, but he still has the power, the pressure, the delivered blow. The tandem Nyag - Pazys, who proved his worth in the modest Strasbourg the year before last, successfully reunited on the south coast: they accounted for 7 of the 16 goals of Marseille in the current championship - by the way, the second overall team result after Lyon.

“SONG ABOUT ROLAND”

The relatively low summer transfer activity of Olimpik (in the last decade, newcomers have come to the training base in La Commanderie, it seems, is only to get the free ammunition as soon as possible before they are told). For football players, there is nothing better than a familiar atmosphere and a homely atmosphere that fosters mutual understanding and reinforces team spirit. But, undoubtedly, the most significant reason for the lack of fuss in the transfer market was the decision of Frank Ribery to stay in Marseille - at least until the end of the season.

At 23, Ribery managed to change many clubs. Upon arrival from Galatasaray - due to late payment of salaries, the contract with the Istanbul Grand was broken - Olympic became his sixth team. However, despite the fact that Ribery comes from Boulogne-sur-Mer, a provincial town on the northern coast, which is terribly far from Marseille in terms of French geography, meteorology and culture, Frank still found his niche in football in the Mediterranean.

Ribery's talent bloomed with new colors last season. By the will of the people — and, of course, Raymond Domenech — a high-speed insider was included in the application of the national team for the World Cup. And although the sports uniform of the Marseille “Pirate” with the approach of the 2006 World Cup was slowly fading (I immediately recall its tasteless, supermodel diet, playing in the final of the French Cup against PSG), Ribery ignited Les Bleus in Germany!

After the World Cup, a fight between the European titans for his signature under the contract was obvious. And it is surprising that the president of Lyon, Jean-Michel Olias, a man who has already become quite skilled in transfer matchmaking, has not yet been retrained as a locksmith after he promised that he will wear a T-shirt of the French national team with the inscription “Ribéry” during the main four-year tournament.

And when “Manchester United”, “Bavaria”, “Arsenal” and other voluptuously “heavyweights” joined Lyon, all this hype, of course, only exacerbated Frank's “indecision”. After weighing all the “pro” and “contra”, he chose to stay in “Marseille”. Remain despite the fact that he has already managed to officially announce his departure. But with his stunning game at the start of the new season, Ribery proved by deed that “his heart still belongs to Olympic. And if last season Ribery established himself to a greater extent as a flank player, now his carte blanche in midfield has increased both in the club and in the national team. Therefore, Frank, forgiving him the lack of playmaker dimension, is increasingly called the successor of Zidane, comparing it with a diamond, the sharp edges of which, however, are already being cut.

However, there is no doubt: the process of dissolution of the marriage of Ribery with Marseille will end much faster than the summer transfer campaign. As soon as the task of getting into the Champions League ceases to be relevant. The litmus test for the main European Cup tournament is just around the corner - in the next round, Olympic is going to visit Lance, which was third a week ago. Well, on October 21, the moment of truth will come: on this day, Ribery and Co. should simply be brutalized, because Ulja with her tamers will come to the arena of the Velodrom Stud.

Translation by Andrey KARNAUKHOV

French liaison

Thanks to a successful start, the Marseille Olympic returned to its original position in the French championship, and its leader Frank Ribery becomes the new hero of the French epic - and the main magnet of European super clubs such as Arsenal and Barcelona.

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