Marseille's Match vs. Rennes Postponed After Fans Storm Training Ground
Jan 30, 2021
A tribune is decorated by Marseille fans directed at their team reads
Saturday's Ligue 1 match between Marseille and Rennes was postponed after fans stormed onto Marseille's training ground.
Per French media outlet RMC Sport (h/t ESPN.com), roughly 150-200 supporters of Marseille attempted to break into the Robert Louis Dreyfus Centre.
RMC Sport tweeted video footage of the supporters appearing to throw flares and firecrackers at the training facility:
🚨 Les images exclusives du coup de force des supporters marseillais au centre d'entrainement Robert-Louis-Dreyfus. Un arbre a pris feu, 25 personnes ont été interpelées par la police. pic.twitter.com/XIVEalZoRQ
"Given the incidents that happened at the Olympique de Marseille training centre this afternoon, the OM-Stade Rennais match (Round 22 of Ligue 1 Uber Eats) has been postponed to a later date," Ligue 1 said in an official statement.
RMC Sport noted fans were protesting club officials.
Marseille manager Andre Villas-Boas, who has been with the team since May 2019, recently said he is likely to leave the club at the conclusion of the Ligue 1 season.
Marseille are currently in seventh place with a 9-5-6 record through 20 matches this Ligue 1 season. OM is also coming off a last-place finish and elimination in Group C of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League season.
Pamela Anderson Calls Adil Rami a 'Monster' in IG Post About Domestic Abuse
Jun 25, 2019
Marseille's defender Adil Rami (L) and US actress Pamela Anderson arrive to take part in a TV show on May 19, 2019 in Paris, as part of the 28th edition of the UNFP (French National Professional Football players Union) trophy ceremony. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo credit should read FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images)
Pamela Anderson confirmed on Instagram on Tuesday she has split with her partner of two years, Marseille defender Adil Rami, whom she called a "monster" and later accused of abusing her.
A section of the Instagram post read:
"I'm devastated to find out in the last few days. He used to joke about other players who had girlfriends down the street in apartments close to their wives. He called those men monsters...
"But this is worse. He lied to all. How is it possible to control two women's hearts and minds like this? I'm sure there were others. He is the monster."
Clementine Rebillat of Paris Match shared more of Anderson's post:
Elle en a gros. "Il ne devrait pas être le visage de la lutte contre les violences domestiques. Ou de la défense des femmes tout court. Il a fait ça pour son lmage". pic.twitter.com/DSioESyoUC
Anderson added she will leave France. In the initial post, she also tagged the National Domestic Violence Hotline before adding in the comments, "I have a body guard because he scares me. He has hurt me and threatened me many times."
TMZ reported in March that Anderson and Rami had got back together following a split after Rami "tried cutting Pam off from her friends and family." The former Baywatch star was said to have rejected a marriage proposal from the Marseille player.
The 33-year-old centre-back struggled for game time with the Ligue 1 club last season, making just 16 appearances in the French top flight.
Rami was part of the France squad that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, although he didn't play a single minute in the competition.
Pammy, Balotelli and 60,000 Angry Fans: How Marseille's American Dream Went Sour
May 22, 2019
Marseille's supporters group
It took three minutes for nine months of simmering frustration to come to the boil.
Marseille's fans had long been unhappy with their team's performances, but for the most part they had continued to show their support. There were still banners and chants attacking the club's board and urging coach Rudi Garcia to step down (this is Marseille, after all), but in the main, the fans had stood behind the team.
But when Moussa Dembele and Maxwel Cornet scored in the 84th and 86th minutes of Lyon's 3-0 win at Marseille on May 12, extinguishing all hope of European qualification for Garcia's side, something snapped.
Irate fans rushed the security barriers at the foot of the stands in an attempt to invade the pitch and had to be forced back by riot police firing tear gas. Other supporters tried to barge their way into the Stade Velodrome's VIP suites. The violence spilled out into the streets surrounding the stadium, where bellicose, cagoule-clad OM fans pelted police with stones, glass bottles and firecrackers. When the dust eventually settled, at least seven people had been arrested.
Unrest is never far from the surface at Marseille, but the Velodrome had not witnessed such scenes of disorder since the last days of Spanish coach Michel's calamitous tenure three years previously. It was later that same year, in October 2016, that American businessman Frank McCourt took over, pledging to invest heavily and put OM "back on the road to glory." So much for that.
A year ago, a visitor to the Velodrome might also have seen smoke drifting past the floodlights, but back then it came not from tear gas but the flares brandished by fans joyously celebrating Marseille's progress to the Europa League final.
Wins over Athletic Bilbao, RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg recalled some of the stadium's finest hours, and although Marseille lost 3-0 to Atletico Madrid in the final, it felt like the club was heading in the right direction.
Marseille's Italian forward Mario Balotelli (C) reacts past French referee Hakim Ben El Hadj (C-R) during the French Ligue 1 football match between FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Olympique de Marseille at the Matmut Atlantique Stadium in Bordeaux, southwest
Twelve months on from that loss to Atletico in Lyon, much has changed. Marseille have fallen short in their stated ambition to qualify for next season's Champions League and on Wednesday it was confirmed that Garcia would leave the club at the end of the season. McCourt's so-called "OM Champions Project" is in tatters.
OFFICIAL: Marseille coach Rudi Garcia has just announced that he is leaving his role once the season is over. #OMhttps://t.co/IAZ61oFmeI
The squad that Garcia led to the Europa League final was stuffed full of experienced players on big contracts, and with revenues due to fall next season in light of Marseille's failure to get into Europe, a summer of upheaval beckons. Mario Balotelli, who belatedly arrived from Nice in January, is not certain to stay, and senior players such as Dimitri Payet, Florian Thauvin and Luiz Gustavo have all been linked with moves away.
"Because of what happened last season, the directors didn't realise there were lots of shortcomings in the team," explains Fabrice Lamperti from regional newspaper La Provence.
"The recruitment process wasn't significant enough and the squad wasn't sufficiently refreshed, with only three new [summer] arrivals. There were some departures, but no big ones, so the dynamic and the hierarchy remained the same. And things went downhill quickly."
The first sign that Marseille were destined for a complicated season came in their first away game at newly promoted Nimes. Garcia rushed the team's World Cup players—Thauvin, Steve Mandanda, Adil Rami and Croatian new boy Duje Caleta-Car—into his starting XI and saw his side completely overrun at a boisterous Stade des Costieres, where OM collapsed to a 3-1 defeat.
It has been a testing season for all three of Marseille's French World Cup winners. Goalkeeper Mandanda has committed several costly errors; centre-back Rami has lost his place in the side (admitting in February he was suffering from post-World Cup "burn-out" despite not having played a single minute in Russia); and although he made a strong start to the season, winger Thauvin has looked some way off the player who amassed 26 goals and 17 assists across all competition in 2017-18.
Swiftly withdrawn from service, 22-year-old centre-back Caleta-Car has since returned to become one of the few bright spots in Marseille's season, but the same cannot be said for his fellow summer recruits. Serbian winger Nemanja Radjonic, 23, has featured scarcely, starting only seven Ligue 1 games, and experienced midfielder Kevin Strootman has failed to justify his €25 million price tag.
Strootman's move to the Mediterranean coast reunited him with Garcia, who was the 29-year-old Dutchman's coach for three years during his time at AS Roma.
According to French media reports, Marseille's success last season meant Garcia was effectively given full control over the club's transfer dealings, allowing him to drive through deals such as the Strootman one despite the reservations of sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta.
The loss at Nimes proved an accurate precursor of things to come. There were several one-sided defeats in the first half of the campaign—4-2 at Lyon, 3-0 at Lille, 3-0 at Montpellier—and in the Europa League, things were even worse.
Seven months on from losing in the final, OM finished rock-bottom of Group H, picking up a solitary point from a 2-2 draw at Cypriot outfit Apollon Limassol. Rami and Payet argued on the pitch at the end of the 3-1 home defeat by Lazio. When the campaign came to a fittingly pitiful end with a 3-1 loss at home to Apollon, there were only 9,274 supporters in attendance.
More humiliation followed in the domestic cups. After losing on penalties to eventual winners Strasbourg in the Coupe de la Ligue, Marseille were beaten 2-0 by amateur side Andrezieux in the Coupe de France. In an interview with L'Equipe that came out shortly after, Mandanda said the team's performances had been "shameful."
Matters reached a head at the end of January when a firecracker thrown from the stands caused Marseille's 2-1 home defeat by Lille to be held up for 38 minutes. There had already been tense exchanges between fans and some of the senior players following a 1-1 draw with Monaco earlier in the month.
On the last day of January, a meeting between fans, players, coaching staff and board members was held at Marseille's Commanderie training centre, during which the supporters present pledged to throw their weight behind the team in the interests of solidarity.
The firecracker incident against Lille meant Marseille were obliged to play their next home game behind closed doors, and with no angry supporters to worry about, Garcia's men produced an improved display to beat Bordeaux 1-0. It proved the start of a short-lived revolt.
Following Balotelli's arrival from Nice on a six-month deal worth a reported €500,000 per month, Garcia reconfigured the team to suit his new recruit, switching to a 4-4-2 formation and pairing the Italian up front with the selfless Valere Germain. Ably assisted by Argentinian winger Lucas Ocampos, with whom he formed a fruitful understanding, Balotelli scored five goals in his first seven appearances. Despite the likes of Rami, Strootman, Luiz Gustavo and Payet all being benched, Marseille's form picked up and a run of five wins in six games raised hopes of a late assault on the Champions League places.
Inevitably, Marseille then lost at Paris Saint-Germain, ceding momentum that they have never recovered. After letting a 2-0 lead slip to draw 2-2 at home to Angers, they lost to Bordeaux and Nantes before succumbing to the defeat at home to Lyon that effectively ended their season. OM have conceded 52 goals in their 37 games to date—their worst defensive figures in 34 years—and go into Friday's final match of the season against Montpellier knowing they can finish no higher than fifth.
"Marseille took the risk of establishing a policy based on signing players who were supposed to be able to perform immediately and help the project gain time," says Lamperti.
"That policy bore fruit last season, but no longer. OM will now try to move a lot of them on, but it will be difficult because they're all saying they want to stay."
Garcia's impending exit does not come as a surprise, despite estimations that sacking him and his staff could cost Marseille up to €15 million. Financial fair play considerations will only increase the pressure to sell players this summer, and the club have even had to contend with being hectored on Twitter by Pamela Anderson, glamorous partner of Rami, over the allocation of funds to the rebuilding of Notre Dame during a charity fundraiser for needy local youngsters.
Last night we attended @OM_Officiel annual Gala to help raise money for youth suffering in Marseille - full of good intentions. While raising a meaningful amount of € for a great cause. Then 😳 ‘big surprise auction item’ came to raise money for rebuilding Notre Dame???
With the policy of investing in proven performers in their late 20s and early 30s having ultimately failed, Marseille president Jacques-Henri Eyraud has confirmed that the club will now look to recruit younger players with more resale value, marking a new phase in McCourt's OM project.
"I can't hide it, I'm very, very disappointed. And there will be a lot of changes, that's for sure," Eyraud told France Football recently.
"We know we'll have to take another direction and rely more on young players, which has already started with Caleta-Car and Radonjic or the playing time given to [Boubacar] Kamara and [Maxime] Lopez. We always intended to move progressively towards that in order to sustain the project economically."
The Marseille team that starts next season could look very different to the one that finishes the current campaign. The fans, though, will be just as expectant as ever.
Mario Balotelli Calls Reports of Planned Marcus Rashford Celebration 'Bulls--t'
Mar 18, 2019
PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 17: Mario Balotelli of Olympique de Marseille reacts during the Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Olympique de Marseille (OM) at Parc des Princes on March 17, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Xavier Laine/Getty Images)
Mario Balotelli has denied a report that he was wearing a Marcus Rashford shirt under his Marseille kit to troll Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday's 3-1 defeat at the Parc des Princes.
Manchester United striker Rashford scored a dramatic injury-time penalty to knock PSG out of the UEFA Champions League earlier in March, but Balotelli has dismissed planning to unveil a shirt bearing Rashford had he scored in Le Classique, per ESPN FC's Jonathan Johnson:
Balotelli also pointed towards the star (denoting Champions League success) on his Marseille shirt as he was substituted in the 2nd half to wind the PSG fans up. #PSGOMpic.twitter.com/OJUHfcVe05
In his Instagram post, Balotelli said the Canal+ report was a "lie," and he added, "Stop creating fake stories over me."
Johnson also relayed the response of Canal+ report Olivier Tallaron to Balotelli's post:
Despite Mario Balotelli’s denial, Canal+ journalist Olivier Tallaron is sticking to his stance on the Marcus Rashford shirt underneath the Marseille jersey. #PSGOMhttps://t.co/dikeJYg8bX
The striker did not manage to find the back of the net on Sunday. He was taken off in the 65th minute for Marseille to bring on back-up goalkeeper Yohann Pele after Steve Mandanda was sent off for a handball outside the area.
Angel Di Maria dispatched the consequent free-kick to seal a 3-1 win, having earlier put PSG ahead after Valere Germain cancelled out Kylian Mbappe's opener.
Balotelli joined Marseille from Nice in January, signing a six-month contract with his new side. He has enjoyed an electric start, scoring five goals in eight matches.
The 28-year-old has not only caught the eye with his goals at Marseille but also his celebrations.
Straight after scoring an overhead kick against Saint-Etienne on March 3, Balotelli celebrated with a live Instagram video from the pitch:
— Olympique de Marseille 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@OM_English) March 4, 2019
In Marseille's following match, he scored the winner in their 1-0 victory against former club Nice and subsequently enjoyed a game of rock, paper, scissors with team-mate Florian Thauvin:
Balotelli is no stranger when it comes to memorable goal celebrations. In October 2011, while playing for Manchester City, he infamously unveiled a shirt asking "Why always me?" after scoring against local rivals United.
Mario Balotelli Completes Loan Move to Marseille for Remainder of the Season
Jan 23, 2019
Nice's Italian forward Mario Balotelli gestures during the French L1 football match between Guingamp (EAG) and Nice (OGCN) on December 1, 2018, at the Roudourou stadium, in Guingamp, northwestern France. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo credit should read CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images)
Marseille confirmed the signing of striker Mario Balotelli from Nice on Wednesday, with the Italian joining on loan until the end of the season:
The 28-year-old enjoyed two fine seasons at Nice in 2016-17 and 2017-18 following his permanent departure from Liverpool, where he endured a torrid two-term spell—the second on loan at AC Milan.
Marseille have confirmed the signing of Mario Balotelli on loan from Nice until the end of the season 🔵⚪️
He netted 33 league goals in 61appearances for Nice as he returned consecutive career-best tallies in league play from across his time at Inter Milan, Manchester City, AC Milan and Liverpool.
Balotelli also returned to the Italian national team in 2018 after a four-year absence.
However, he has recently fallen out with Nice manager Patrick Vieira, who was appointed back in the summer and immediately had problems with Balotelli.
The forward has not played a match since December 4 after failing to score a single goal in 10 Ligue 1 appearances in 2018-19.
French football writer Jeremy Smith offered his view:
Marseille's Balotelli announcement vid - featuring lots more running and jumping than Balotelli will probably do in the next 6 months. https://t.co/FffJGUFWku
