Marseille – Zenit St Petersburg, the preview…

By: Magnusson | March 6th, 2008

With Lyon not believing in their chances enough to stay in their european competition (I really do think they should have gone for it if they wanted to win against ManU), Marseille is now the sole French club left. How odd when you consider the position that was ours four months ago!

Anyway, after Spartak Moscow, we will face tonight in the Vélodrome a very DANGEROUS side of Zenit St.Petersburg. We all remember the last time we faced them (or at least I and every single Marseille fan does, some images you just can’t get rid off. No matter how hard you try.), it was two years ago and they eliminated us at the same stage of this very competition (0-1 at the Vélodrome and 1-1 in their own stadium).

In the meantime, they became an even better team thanks to their sponsor, russian Gaz giants Gazprom and the huge amounts of money they’re ready to put in their vanity project. With dutch manager Dick Advocaat at the helm since leaving his South Korea job in july 2006, they finished 2006 at an encouraging fourth place and unsurprisingly won the 2007 championship. Today, the team that is supposed to be dominating russian football for years to come has been able to keep their best players (Andriy Arshavin, who scored in the Vélodrome if I remember correctly, wanted to leave after a few years of “sacrifices” as he put it then, they gave him 3 million euros a year, he’s leading the charge against Marseille once more tonight) while buying quality ones (They acquired last summer Shaktar Donetsk’s Anatoly Timotchouk for a bundle of cash). They have the results, the ambition that comes with it and are building a 80.000 places stadium that will supposedly be finished in 2010.

They even have the cockiness that comes with it. Case in point, their president Sergeï Foursenko goes: “We don”t fear Marseille, even with Nasri, Niang and Cissé, our players are better than theirs.”.

Marseille is warned, these people don’t play and are here to win against us. We’ve been quite guilty of some lack of concentration and humility in games against Monaco and at Auxerre this weekend but we”ll definitly have to keep being focused like we’ve been able to in the Ligue 1. Marseille can definitly win against St. Petersburg but this team can’t be overlooked. If we manage not to take any goals, we will have made a pretty important step towards the Quarterfinals.
St. Petersburg won’t be playing with their full squad though. Belgian defender Nicolas Lombaerts is injured, and two key componenets of their opposition with Villareal are suspended, defender Roman Shirokov and Czech superstar Radek Sirl. Here is the Russian group:

Keepers: Malafeev, Contofalsky
Defenders: Anyukov, Kim Dong Jin, Krizanac, Lapin, Sosnin, Lee Ho
Midfielders: Tymoschuk, Zyrianov, Ionov, Denisov, Radimov, Gorshkov, Ricksen
Strikers: Pogrebnyak, Fayzulin, Arshavin

Absent: Shirokov, Sirl (suspended), Lombaerts, Domingues, Tekke (injured), Hubocan (non qualified) Gorbunov, Lebedev, Okorokov (manager’s choices).

Marseille too is not complete either with none other than Captain Lorik Cana suspended for this first bout, Julien Rodriguez still injurzed, Elliott Grandin and Kanga Akalé not qualified for this competition. The great news is that Cédric Carasso is back as Mandanda’s backup (not that I want him to play by any means but Cédric is still an appreciated player and it fills me up with joy to see him come back).

The Marseillais

Keepers: Mandanda, Carrasso
Defenders: Bonnart, Taiwo, Krupoviesa, Faty, Givet, Zubar
Midfielders: Cheyrou, M’Bami, Kaboré, Oruma, Nasri, Ziani, Zenden, Valbuena
Strikers : Cissé, Niang, Ayew
Absences:Cana (suspended), Akalé and Grandin (non qualifiés), Rodriguez (ankle injury), L. N’Diaye (injured), Sabo, Barrillon, M’Bow, Maté, Hamel, Krstic (Eric Gerets choices).

The first problem Eric Gerets will have to face is the number of players who could be suspended if they take another yellow card tonight: Djibril Cissé, Mamadou Niang, Samir Nasri and Steve Mandanda (maybe having Carasso reporting for duty will prove to be even beytter news than expected).
Another dilemma (smaller one I’ll confess) faces Eric Gerets for tonight’s game with the absence of Cana and Rodriguez: Who’ll be his captain? Mamadou Niang, Djibril Cissé and Samir Nasri can be viable options but I’m curious as to who will be wearing the armband tonight. Even though it’s his first season, I’m leaning towards Benoit Cheyrou to take it. Anyway, not very important but still.

Stuttgart, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Juventus, Newcastle, Atletico Madrid, Blackburn and Portsmouth will all have official scouts in the stands, just so you know who could be playing in your favorite club next season.