Having already denied PSG a shot at glory in the Coupe de France this month, there should be no shreds of trepidation from Tudor’s goal-happy Marseille crop, whose prolific tendencies were needed to see off an inspired Toulouse side last weekend.
Thijs Dallinga took just three minutes to fire home the opener for Toulouse before Chancel Mbemba, Cengiz Under and goalscoring full-back Nuno Tavares turned the game on its head, but Marseille still had to survive a late scare when Ado Onaiwureduced the deficit with three minutes remaining.
Consequently, Les Olympiens remain on the coat-tails of PSG in second place in the table – five points worse off than the champions – but Monaco and Lens are both within touching distance of Tudor’s side and can upset the apple cart if results go their way this weekend.
Consigning their patchy form towards the end of 2022 to history, Marseille have nine victories to shout about from 11 games in all competitions in 2023 – collecting a league-high 29 points on the road – but the bulk of their recent slip-ups have come on their own patch.
Indeed, Marseille have only won three of their last eight home contests in Ligue 1 and have kept just two clean sheets at the Orange Velodrome all season long, so a stimulating spectacle should be on the menu against a PSG side whose defensive record also leaves a lot to be desired.
Death, taxes, and Lionel Messi scoring a last-gasp free kick to save his manager’s bacon. Christophe Galtier’s PSG were ostensibly on course for a straightforward win over Lille last Sunday courtesy of early goals from Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, but Bafode Diakite, Jonathan David and Jonathan Bamba silenced the Parc des Princes in the hour that followed.
Football advisor Luis Campos took his job title quite literally – coming down to the touchline to bark instructions alongside Galtier – who witnessed Mbappe level matters in the 87th minute before a free kick in Messi territory was lined up in the fifth minute of added time, and the script was followed to a tee.
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The 35-year-old’s effort cannoned in off the post to buy Galtier a bit more time in the hotseat, with the ex-Lille boss managing to snap a three-game losing run and maintaining his side’s five-point lead at the summit, but there are still few reasons for optimism given the manner of their recent performances.
Now without a clean sheet in seven consecutive games in all tournaments, PSG’s last two road matches against Marseille and Monaco have ended in defeat, and the champions have only beaten Montpellier HSC on their travels in the league since the turn of the year.
As mentioned, Marseille sent PSG packing 2-1 in the Coupe de France earlier this month, and Les Olympiens could now record back-to-back wins over the champions for the first time in the Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) era, which could only accelerate the trigger-happy board’s pursuit of a Galtier successor.
