Marseille vs. Liverpool, It’s the Vélodrome’s turn…

By: Magnusson | December 11th, 2007

Yessir, here we are. Finally! Marseille will receive the Reds of Liverpool in two hours, actually less than two hours. And now it’s the vélodrome’s turn once again to help us qualify. We talked about all the other games yesterday but the equation is simple. Marseille has NEVER lost to an English club (Southamption, Chelsea, Liverpool, Bolton, Manchester United, Newcastle) at home. EVER. And why would it start tonight. We already beat them once, all we need to do is to win again.
Easier said then done, that’s for sure. But tonight the fans are the only ones that can make us go through. The english may be used to big ambiancees but not like this one. We all remember Beckham and Scholes and that Manchester team litterally fearing for their life while they were looking at the stands.
And everybody knows how important the fans will be tonight. José Anigo, Lorik Cana, even Habib Beye came to the rescue asking the fans to create an unbearable atmosphere tonight. They better turn up.

This won’t be a proper preview because I didn’t have time to write a proper one. The only thing we need to know is that it doesn’t seem like Samir nasri will be starting the game. Damn ankle. On the other hand, he was not at Anfield Road. The team that will play will look like the one that played Monaco this weekend.

THE PRESS EXHORTS EVERYONE TO BELIEVE.

LA PROVENCE: “LE GRAND SOIR”

The daily La Provence title “Great night, great hope” in the inside pages and devotes four pages to the match against Liverpool. “The mere fact of reaching the last matchday with as much excitement, uncertainty, is already a success,” writes Mario Albano and in the presentation of the game. There is also a portrait of Mathieu Valbuena, scorer in the first leg against Liverpool and an article on the possibility or not of Samir Nasri’s participation in the bout.

L’EQUIPE: “BELIEVE IN MARSEILLE”

“Their backs against the Red Wall” is the title in the daily’s page 3, “in a second round of the Champions League, essential way towards recognition has denied itself too long. This magnifies the importance of this last episode of the Olympian’s qualification round” notes Hervé Penot. In the two other pages, we find a lengthy interview with Mamadou Niang (”We are not shaking”), and a portrait of Reds striker Fernando Torres and analysis of the game from captain Stevie Gerrard.

LA MARSEILLAISE: “OM CAN DO IT AGAIN”

The newspaper devoted their first four pages to the match. “What if Marseille passed the second layer?” wondered Paul Delhoume who announces: “Marseille and the Velodrome will once again feel the fever of European Cup nights. In this kind of confrontation that football is more likely to become what it should never have stopped being: a celebration. “A portrait of Mathieu Valbuena and a story that takes the pulse of Marseilles before the game are also to read.