Third defeat in three matches, Genesio's OM mathematically eliminated from Europa League

Olympique de Marseille suffered their third defeat in as many Europa League matches, losing 1-0 to Sturm Graz on Thursday evening in Austria. With zero points after three matchdays, the Marseille club is virtually eliminated from the league phase.

The start of the match sealed the fate of the Marseille side: an error by Kamissoko in the fifteenth minute handed the Austrians their only goal of the game. OM never managed to turn things around, proving completely toothless in attack despite territorial dominance in the second half. The club now sits in the second-to-last place in the standings.

The figures are unforgiving. Since the introduction of the new format two years ago, none of the seven teams with zero points after three matchdays have qualified for the next stage of the competition. With only three points separating them from the qualification zone and five matches still to play, mathematical hope remains, but history is against Marseille.

Bruno Genesio did not hide behind statistics. It was the level of play from his players that concerned him most, starting with a first half he described as « the most disappointing since the start of the season ». « We had an insipid first half, unworthy of a European match, » he lamented. « In European football, the first ingredient you need to put in is commitment, aggression, winning the duels. And in the first half, we didn’t exist in that area. »

The Marseille manager nevertheless chose to spare his young midfielder, who made the fatal error: « I’m not going to hold it against Kami for losing the ball leading to the goal, that’s part of football, that’s part of learning, and afterwards he got back into it. » But Genesio was uncompromising on the collective attitude: « We were dominated in every duel, we got pushed around in every key area, we didn’t respond in that regard. »

This defeat comes just three days after a heavy victory at Angers (5-2) in Ligue 1, which seemed to have given fresh impetus to a group weakened by the defeat conceded at the Vélodrome against Olympiacos. The improvement proved short-lived.