Marseillais go mad in Marseille

In fact Marseille had just ended a 17 year trophy drought by beating league leaders Bordeaux 3-0 at the Stade de France in Paris to lift the Coupe de la Ligue (League Cup). Introduced in 1994, it is a knock-out competition within Ligue 1 that runs in parallel with the Coup de France (France Cup) which is open to all divisions. OK, so it may not earn them the kudos (and euros) of the hugely profitable UEFA Champions League trophy, the last trophy they won way back in 1993, when they beat AC Milan no less, but it has ended a run of bad luck in four finals.

Under the coaching of Didier Deschamps, who coincidentally captained OM to that 1993 triumph, the team has been steadily improving all season and is now one of five with a chance of winning the premier league (Bordeaux, Montpellier, Auxerre, Lyon, Marseille).

Bordeaux by contrast, after a cracking season at the top of the league under the respectable, bespectacled Laurent Blanc (widely tipped at one point to replace the hapless French team coach Raymond Domenech), seems to have lost its momentum. This month the Girondins managed a 1-1 draw with arch rivals Montpellier, lost 2-1 to Auxerre and drew 0-0 against the erratic mid-league AS Monaco. However they did beat Olympiakos 2-1 in the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League which put a spring in their step and then went on four days later to beat Lille 3-1.

At European level OM squandered their chance of a place in the quarter finals of the Europa League Cup earlier this month when they lost to Benfica, but drew two of their French league matches and clinched a significant victory against Lyon 2-1 last Sunday.

Given the rapturous reception the team received for this league cup - bearinng in mind that the level in France is nowhere near that of the English or Italian or even Spanish premier leagues – one cannot begin to imagine how the Marseillais will react when OM really come good and win Ligue 1. CL