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Marseille in Crisis as it Prepares to Face PSG in French League

Marseille's Gabonese forward #10 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang reacts during the French L1 football match between Olympique Marseille (OM) and Toulouse FC at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, southern France on September 17, 2023. (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP)
Marseille's Gabonese forward #10 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang reacts during the French L1 football match between Olympique Marseille (OM) and Toulouse FC at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, southern France on September 17, 2023. (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP)
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Marseille in Crisis as it Prepares to Face PSG in French League

Marseille's Gabonese forward #10 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang reacts during the French L1 football match between Olympique Marseille (OM) and Toulouse FC at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, southern France on September 17, 2023. (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP)
Marseille's Gabonese forward #10 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang reacts during the French L1 football match between Olympique Marseille (OM) and Toulouse FC at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, southern France on September 17, 2023. (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP)

Marseille is in crisis again as it prepares to face bitter rival Paris Saint-Germain in the French league on Sunday.
A quick glance at the standings shows that undefeated Marseille is in fourth place and is one point above PSG in fifth.
Hardly awful.
Yet a chaotic week saw Spanish manager Marcelino step down on Wednesday after only a handful of games in charge of Marseille, The Associated Press reported. He had replaced Igor Tudor, who left after just one season. Marcelino's departure came after a tense board meeting between supporters groups — who have long held positions of strong influence — and the directors.
“It’s been quite a torment,” veteran striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang said. “Of course it’s not easy. But I’m not going into what we’ve said to each other (players and directors).”
Supporters groups reportedly expressed their strong dissatisfaction at the level of play so far. Sunday’s 0-0 home draw with Toulouse was Marseille’s third draw in five games so far. Still, the team is only two points behind leader Monaco and victory in Paris would condemn PSG to a second straight league defeat at home after the 3-2 loss to Nice.
“It’s a strange context," said Aubameyang, a former Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal and Barcelona striker. “When you look at the league table we’re still in it and there’s nothing dramatic."
Aubameyang was speaking on the eve of Marseille's Europa League game at Ajax later Thursday. Following the PSG match, Marseille has a tough trip to Monaco next weekend.
“We have a series of important games coming up and we need to show we can surpass ourselves,” Aubameyang said. “We have to get results, and that means sticking together even in a somewhat chaotic situation.”
But Marseille appears a rudderless ship at the moment.
Former Marseille defender Jacques Abardonado, a former reserve team coach and assistant who was Marcelino's translator, said he only found out late Wednesday night that he was taking temporary charge against Ajax.
“It is sad and a bit painful when you know what this club's about,” the 45-year-old Abardonado said. “Players know the situation before they sign for the club that these things can happen. They need to focus on the match, not what happens off the field.”
As a former player and long-standing member of the coaching staff, he knows what goes on.
Marseille has been unstable at management level for several seasons, with both Marcelo Bielsa and Jorge Sampaoli suddenly quitting after disagreements, and former coach André Villas-Boas suspended for publicly criticizing the club.
Tudor guided Marseille to third place, won fans over with his hard-nosed and dynamic playing style, and then also left the club after a disagreement with president Pablo Longoria.
Longoria did not travel with the club to Amsterdam for Thursday's game.
Perhaps he's still recovering from Monday's meeting.
During the talks, fans castigated the board and asked for its entire departure. While complaining about the team’s recent displays, they also criticized Longoria for the frequent changes of coach and players, and the running of the women’s and youth teams.
After Monday’s meeting, Marseille said in a statement that the supporters association — some of whom form hardcore Ultras groups — had threatened “a war” against board members if they did not resign. This is not to be taken lightly, given that more than 200 Marseille Ultras attacked their own training ground in January, 2021.
“The OM board of directors believes in a transparent and regular relationship with its supporters,” the club said in a statement. “On the other hand, the OM directorate cannot accept personal threats. Its members cannot tolerate individual attacks and any form of unfounded public defamation.”
Under Marcelino, Marseille failed to qualify for the lucrative group stage of the Champions League after losing a playoff against Panathinaikos in a penalty shootout having conceded an equalizer nine minutes into stoppage time. Two groups of Marseille Ultras fought each other at that game.
Once a powerhouse of French soccer, Marseille is the only French team to win the Champions League, back in 1993. But it hasn’t won the domestic league title since 2010, while PSG established its dominance, winning the league nine times in the last 11 years to set a French record with 11 titles.
Marseille's Champions League bragging rights over PSG remain intact, but there's little else to shout about for now.

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Flotilla on Seine, Rain and Celine Dion Mark Start of Paris Olympics

Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Flotilla on Seine, Rain and Celine Dion Mark Start of Paris Olympics

Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Olympic Games open on Friday after a soaking wet ceremony in which athletes were cheered by the crowd along the Seine, dancers took to the roofs of Paris and Lady Gaga sang a French cabaret song.

France's three-time Olympic gold medalists Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner then lit the Olympic cauldron, suspended on a hot-air balloon, before Canada's Celine Dion sang Edith Piaf's "Hymn to Love", in her first public performance in years, drawing huge cheers from the crowd.

The 30-meter (98 ft) high balloon carrying a 7-meter diameter ring of fire took to the air and was hovering dozens of meters above the ground.

It will be in the air from sunset until 2 am local time every day, organizers said.

"We are so proud of this show, I'm so proud that sport and culture were celebrated in such a fantastic manner tonight, it was a first and the result was fantastic despite the rain," Paris 2024 organizing president Tony Estanguet told reporters.

A fleet of barges took the competitors on a 6 km-stretch of the river alongside some of the French capital's most famous landmarks, as performers recreated some of the sports to be showcased in the Games on floating platforms.

It was the first time that an opening ceremony has taken place outside a stadium, adding to the headaches for a vast security operation, just hours after a sabotage attack on the high-speed TGV rail network caused travel chaos across France.

"I invite everybody: dream with us. Like the Olympic athletes, be inspired with the joy that only sport can give us. Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living in peace," International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach said as the ceremony came to an end at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

More than 10,500 athletes will compete at the Olympics, 100 years since Paris last staged the Games. Competition started on Wednesday and the first of the 329 gold medals will be awarded on Saturday.

As the show started four hours earlier, a giant plume of blue, white and red smoke, resembling the French flag, was sent high above a bridge over the Seine as part of a show that included many postcard-like depictions of France, including a huge cancan line performed by Moulin Rouge dancers on the banks.

A more modern image of the country was on display when French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura, the most-listened to French female singer in the world, sang some of her biggest hits, accompanied by the French Republican Guard's army choir.

Nakamura's performance drew some of the ceremony's biggest cheers. Rumors of her inclusion had sparked a row over French identity, with supporters saying she represented the vibrancy of modern-day France while her detractors said her music owes more to foreign influences than French.

POURING RAIN

While the celebration of French culture, fashion and history was warmly cheered by many of the 300,000 spectators lining the river, hundreds were seen leaving early as the rain fell.

"It was good other than the rain, it was nice, it was different, instead of being in a stadium being on the river, so that's always a good thing - interesting, unique," said Avid Pureval, 34, who came to the Games from Ohio.

"Once you're wet, it's fine," he said. Still, he was heading back to his hotel after the French boat passed, long before the ceremony ended.

"It would have been better with sun," said Josephine, from Paris, sitting beside her 9-year-old daughter and who paid 1,600 euros ($1,736) for her seat.

With many world leaders and VIPs present, the ceremony was protected by snipers on rooftops. The Seine's riverbed was swept for bombs, and Paris' airspace was closed.

Some 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers were deployed in a huge security operation in Paris for the ceremony. Armed police patrolled along the river in inflatable boats as the armada made its passage along the Seine.

WELCOMED IN TAHITI

A mix of French and international stars, including soccer great Zinedine Zidane, 14-times French Open champion Rafa Nadal, 23-times Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and three paralympic athletes were among the last torchbearers before the cauldron was lit.

It will blaze until the closing ceremony on Aug. 11.

At the start of the parade, applause erupted for the Greek boat - the first delegation, by tradition - and there were even bigger cheers for the boat that followed, carrying the refugees' team. The French, US and Ukrainian delegations also got loud cheers.

The two most decorated athletes in the Games' history, Michael Phelps and Martin Fourcade, unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals.

At one point, there was a live crossover to the early morning welcome ceremony at the surfing venue, 16,000 km away in the Pacific island of Tahiti.

ISRAEL DELEGATION

France is at its highest level of security, though officials have repeatedly said there was no specific threat to the opening ceremony or the Games.

But since the last Games - the Winter Olympics held in Beijing in 2022 - wars have erupted in Ukraine and Gaza, providing a tense international backdrop.

Israeli competitors are being escorted by elite tactical units to and from events and are given 24-hour protection throughout the Olympics due to the war in Gaza, officials say.

The Israel delegation got some boos, but also a lot of cheers, as it sailed by spectators, Reuters reporters saw. Chants of "Palestine! Palestine! Palestine!" rose from the crowd as the boat passed.

Macron, who won a second mandate two years ago, had hoped the Olympics would cement his legacy. But his failed bet on a snap legislative election has weakened him and cast a shadow over his moment on the international stage.