Marseille vs. PSG: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info
The domestic French season comes to a close on Saturday night as Olympique de Marseille take on Paris Saint-Germain at the Stade de France. Only Franck Passi's side stand between the Ligue 1 champions and a second consecutive domestic quadruple.
What a way to end the season, with Le Classique, still the biggest game in France. Take away the points gap between the two clubs and the budget differences. As soon as these two clubs come together, everything goes out the window.
Eleven fixtures have passed since Marseille last beat the Parisians in any competition, but they will still have a chance this weekend. OM finished 13th in the Ligue 1 table, but victory on Saturday would see them qualify for the UEFA Europa League, a much-needed glimmer of success for the team from the south of France.
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PSG start heavy favourites, but anything is possible. Laurent Blanc will want to finish his season on a high, helping him build towards the summer, but PSG can’t take Marseille lightly.
Date: Saturday, May 21, 2016
Time: 8 p.m. BST (3 p.m ET)
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
TV Info: France 2 (France), beIN Sports USA
Live Stream: beIN Sport Connect (U.S.)
Last five results:
| Marseille | PSG |
| D Troyes 1-1 Marseille (Ligue 1) | W PSG 4-0 Nantes (Ligue 1) |
| W Marseille 1-0 Reims (Ligue 1) | D Bordeaux 1-1 PSG (Ligue 1) |
| W Angers 0-1 Marseille (Ligue 1) | W Gazelec 0-4 PSG (Ligue 1) |
| D Marseille 1-1 Nantes (Ligue 1) | W PSG 4-0 Rennes (Ligue 1) |
| W Sochaux 0-1 Marseille (Coupe de France) | W PSG 2-1 Lille (Coupe de la Ligue) |
Team News
Marseille go into the game with no real injury concerns after Georges-Kevin Nkoudou was announced as part of the travelling squad. The winger has recovered from injury, and it just remains to be seen whether he is fit enough to start the game.
Disappointing loanees, Paolo De Ceglie and Lucas Silva have been left out of Passi's squad.
Marseille will likely play 4-2-3-1, with the same XI that started against Troyes in the final Ligue 1 fixture, but with Michy Batshuayi leading the attack. There is a possibility that the Spaniard could go bold and play 4-4-2 with Batshuayi and Steve Fletcher up front. However, against PSG, that would be very brave.
Marseille (4-2-3-1): Steve Mandanda; Brice Dja Djedje, Nicolas Nkoulou, Rolando, Javier Manquillo; Mauricio Isla, Lassana Diarra; Florian Thauvin, Remy Cabella, Romain Alessandrini; Michy Batshuayi
Laurent Blanc is hoping that Blaise Matuidi will be fit to start the game after suffering from a knee injury, but Marco Verratti will continue to miss out following his successful surgery in Qatar.
If he is picked over Serge Aurier, Gregory van der Wiel will also make his last appearance for the Parisian club, per Sky Sports.
PSG (4-3-3): Salvatore Sirigu; Serge Aurier, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Maxwell; Adrien Rabiot, Thiago Motta, Blaise Matuidi; Angel Di Maria, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani
Player to Watch
It hasn’t been the best of campaigns for Romain Alessandrini, but he has started the last three league games for OM and is in line to make the XI for Saturday’s final. The midfielder is hoping that taking on the French champions can inspire the best out of his team-mates.
Alessandrini told OM.net (via Agence France-Presse, h/t Sky Sports):
"We're up against a very good PSG team that is used to winning trophies, so we have nothing to lose.
It's up to us to do everything to win this match, to enjoy it and to bring the cup back to Marseille. There's an eternal rivalry between the two clubs. It's going to be rather intense to say the least. If we win, it'll be an incredible day for us.
Our best two matches this season, despite the results, were against PSG so I think it will be a high quality match.
"
The midfielder has scored a couple of superb goals against Paris in the past when he played for Rennes, including this cracker when they beat PSG at home in November 2012. Passi would love it if the 27-year-old could conjure up one of them on Saturday.
Key Battle
In his final game for the club, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will want to end his PSG career on the ultimate high, winning the Coupe de France. He has scored 38 league goals this season, and since arriving in France, he has 14 strikes in this competition.
Standing in the Swede’s way this weekend is the newly crowned UNFP Goalkeeper of the Season, Steve Mandanda. This is likely to be the 31-year-old’s last game for his club, per France Football (h/t Get France Football News), ending his time at Marseille after nine seasons.
Zlatan said he arrived a King and left a legend. Mandanda is already a legend to the OM faithful; if he can stop Ibrahimovic on Saturday, he will leave the club a god.
Mandanda has never kept a clean sheet against the champions over the past four seasons, and If OM want to claim that Coupe de France trophy and qualify for the Europa League, they need Mandanda to have the game of his life. When the underdogs last beat their fierce rivals, they won 3-0 at the Stade Velodrome in November 2011, and that was the last time Mandanda kept out the Parisian attack.
Ibrahimovic is in form and in the mood to say goodbye with a bang, but in Mandanda, Marseille have a goalkeeper able to stop him. He hasn’t managed that yet, but cup finals are won by heroes.
Odds (via Oddschecker)
Marseille: 10-1
Draw: 21-5
PSG: 4-11
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