Genesio admits frustration after Marseille's second Europa League defeat

Marseille suffered another home defeat in the Europa League, losing 0-1 to Olympiacos on Thursday evening in the second matchday of the group stage. An Athens goal against the run of play, scored in the closing minutes of the first half from a set piece, was enough to condemn a Marseille side that had dominated the match.

With two defeats in two matches, OM finds itself relegated to the bottom of its group and sees its chances of qualifying for the knockout rounds already seriously compromised. The previous week, the Phocaean club had returned to winning ways in Ligue 1 with a victory at Troyes.

Bruno Genesio made no attempt to hide his despondency at the press conference. “It’s now eight matches, only two victories. It’s difficult to repeat almost the same things after matches. It’s frustrating, a bit annoying even,” acknowledged the Marseille manager.

The coach pointed to a recurring weakness on set pieces. “It was a fairly coherent match from my players, with control throughout the game, situations we don’t convert, and then a weakness, once again, on set pieces that costs us dearly. But when it repeats itself, it means we still have a lot of work to do. We’re not finding sufficient solutions to reverse this trend.”

Genesio nevertheless tried to put things in perspective by highlighting the quality of the opponents faced. “We didn’t deserve to lose tonight, perhaps not to win either. But the score is there, and we have to accept it. Against two of the biggest teams in the group, that should still give us confidence. We have to believe that everything is possible, even if it’s a huge disappointment. We gave everything, we’re not being rewarded.”