Le Classique Match Report: Vélodrome Erupts as Marseille sink PSG | OneFootball

Le Classique wasn’t one for the ages in terms of quality or drama on the pitch, but it’ll stick in the memory for everything going on around it. This won’t be remembered for Aguerd’s scrappy winner or Marseille finally ending their hoodoo at the Velodrome. It’ll be remembered for the sheer absurdity of it all. A fixture as big as this, rescheduled to a Monday night because of wild weather, somehow ended up clashing with the Ballon d’Or ceremony just a few miles up the road in Paris.

While PSG were grinding through a makeshift XI, their most electric player was suited up, collecting the biggest individual prize in football. That contradiction alone made it feel like something out of a parallel universe. A huge domestic clash, yet their Ballon d’Or winner wasn’t even in the stadium, let alone in the squad.

1st half Analysis

Prior to kick off, Marseille supporters did a fantastic job in the stands with the banners to help build the atmosphere on Monday night where the anticipation and excitement for Le Classique was very high. The Marseille players certainly used that energy early on and very impressively too.

The hosts got off to an aggressive and proactive start, pushing Paris Saint-Germain onto the back foot and getting control of the ball early on. Even when they gave it away, the early intensity and desire to win it back was clear.

It only took Marseille five minutes to get the opener, Mason Greenwood’s cross took a deflection and with Lucas Chevalier failing to deal with the ball competently enough, Nayef Aguerd was there to pounce and head home an early Olympique de Marseille advantage in Le Classique. Chevalier simply had to punch it but he was beaten to it, poor goalkeeping.

Marseille’s pressure didn’t stop from there as they continuously pressed PSG and consistently won the ball back to retain control of the game. Whatever PSG did in the opening 10 minutes, they just couldn’t settle and get control.

As the first half did go on, Paris Saint-Germain were getting more of the ball but even then they couldn’t find a way through or around the Marseille defence because of the aggression, the compactness and the organisation of the Marseille defence. It was a strong unit of white shirts with no pockets of space appearing for PSG to try exploit.

PSG were in a back three when they were aiming to build up through the thirds and into Marseille territory. What was clearly evident, depending which side the ball was on, the wide centre back would come very wide and play as a full back. Pacho did this on the left side and Marquinhos did this on the right side. The idea behind that was so that Nuno Mendes for example could push very high and wide down the left side. It didn’t work or seem as effective down the right side however.

With his starting position being as a winger yesterday, Hakimi was already very high anyway and with Marquinhos also coming out wide as a full back, it meant the likes of Timothy Weah, Gouiri or gor Paixão could drive down that side by exploiting the space left between Marquinhos and Hakimi. Luis Enrique needed to tweak this because it was something that wasn’t working the way he would’ve liked in the first half.

2nd half analysis

The slight tweak did come in the 2nd half, where Marquinhos probably wasn’t as wide as he was in the 1st half and he was tucked in as a centre back in a three.

Hakimi basically had that right flank to himself from a Paris Saint-Germain perspective and there was also the support of the right sided central midfielder too. Particularly when Marseille brought off Igor Paixão after an hour, that was when Paris Saint-Germain were really able to have total control of the possession and pin Marseille back into a defensive block in their own half.

To some extent, Kang-In Lee did have an impact when he came on after 64 minutes for Willian Pacho. This saw Lee go to the right, Marquinhos back to his traditional centre back role and Hakimi back to right back. Kang-In Lee was able to get on the ball often, he tried to get into good attacking areas to create chances, he was looking to link up with his teammates. But even with those tweaks, those changes, the greater control of the ball; Paris Saint-Germain just couldn’t find a way through.

Olympique de Marseille were pinned in during the 2nd half but every single player they had on the pitch made a significant contribution of some sort. They worked together as a unit, they never really allowed spaces for PSG to exploit and they did a fantastic job at protecting their goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, who himself had a very good performance.

When crosses came into the box, Rulli came to claim them. Whenever PSG tried a long ball in behind, Rulli was there to sweep up. Whenever PSG had a shot on goal, he made the important saves to deny them. He was a key part to Marseille’s defensive resilience.

Player Ratings

Olympique de Marseille:

Geronimo Rulli – 8/10. Without him in goal, even with the few chances PSG had in front of goal, Marseille may not have won Le Classique. He showed fantastic leadership, a presence, did his job very well. A top performance.

Benjamin Pavard, Leonardo Balerdi, Nayef Aguerd – 9/10. They worked together as a unit, kept the lines tight so that PSG had no space, they won their duels, they didn’t take any silly risks playing out from the back. Yes all of that is probably what you’d expect from defenders but the fact they done it so well for the entire game and didn’t switch off once is really impressive and that was super important for Marseille. They shut down PSG’S biggest threat, their mobile attackers.

Timothy Weah – 8/10. On the transition, his pace was a big threat and he helped the Marseille attack whenever they did have the opportunity to attack. Even if it didn’t lead to another goal, he was causing the Paris Saint-Germain defence a lot of problems. He contributed defensively too so he did a great job working both ways.

Matt O’Riley and Pierre-Emil Højbjerg – 8/10. They worked together tremendously. Always knew where each other were, they never unnecessarily broke the line they held as the two in that midfield. What was key was the positioning they held together, acting as that shield to the bsck three and that made it really tricky for PSG to play off Goncalo Ramos.

Emerson – 7/10. He was definitely the more defensive of the wing backs. He did his job consistently and limited what Hakimi could do down that side. It wasn’t a flashy or eye catching performance but it was one that was important to the defensive side for Marseille.

Mason Greenwood, Amine Gouiri, Igor Paixão – 8/10. They were dynamic in movement and to an extent fluid too which gave PSG some unpredictability in terms of how to mark them. Gouiri was someone who stood out because he wasn’t just staying in central areas, he was going out on the left to win free kicks and create chances and also combine with his teammates.

Mason Greenwood also came into different areas of tbe pitch rather than staying on the right hand side. Igor Paixão done a good job driving through the deeper areas from the left hand side and whilst he didn’t add a goal contribution to his performance, it showed signs as to why Marseille payed €35M to sign him in the summer.

Paris Saint-Germain

Lucas Chevalier – 2/10. He made the big error that led to the goal which eventually saw Marseille pick up the points. He should have come out quicker, made his presence felt and punch it away out of danger. He didn’t which gave Nayef Aguerd the opportunity to head home which he did. A Le Classique debut Chevalier will want to forget.

Marquinhos – 5/10. Once Luis Enrique moved him back to centre back, he looked better. But for the first 45+ minutes before any changes were made, he didn’t look too comfortable at right back and that showed in the way he performed. Igor Paixão and other Marseille players were looking to go down that side because it was clear he was the weak link in the PSG defence whilst at right back.

Ilya Zabarnyi – 5/10. From a technical perspective he did ok. He had plenty of touches with the ball, made a fair amount of passes, was trying to play forward. The issue mainly was of the 64 passes he attempted, with 59 of those accurate, a lot of them felt a bit too safe. He could have taken more risk, try to find any space for one of the attackers to try running onto. He wasn’t bad but it just seemed safe, rather than taking a risk to try help make things happen from deep.

Willian Pacho – 6/10. His positioning was fairly good, with and without the ball. He did a good job covering as a left back to help Nuno Mendes push as high as possible down the PSG left side. He was also trying to be proactive and to a degree get forward himself, he was looking for those passes in pockets to help PSG create a chance. He seemed like one of PSG’s better players in Le Classique.

Nuno Mendes – 4/10. He was able to get high and wide but his impact from that seemed minimal for a large part. He didn’t see too much of the ball, he couldn’t really create much and Marseille were able to mark him out the game effectively with Timothy Weah and Benjamin Pavard.2 vs 1 is always hard, maybe he could’ve got help from one of his teammates. But it want a great performance.

Warren Zaire-Emery and Fabian Ruiz – 5/10. They both really struggled to make a true impact in he game and that was because of hoe well organised Olympique de Marseille were defensively. There wasn’t any space to run into, very few pockets to exploit, it was tricky to make the key runs from deep into the box and even then the crosses from wide were also poor. Marseille did a fantastic job in nullifying PSG and in particular these two.

Vitinha – 6/10. To be fair to him, he was able to get onto the ball in them deeper positions and particularly in the 2nd half, he was able to help and play a key role in the control Paris Saint-Germain did have. But unfortunately it just didn’t lead to anything and like many of the other players on the pitch for PSG, he couldn’t help find a way through because of how well compact Olympique de Marseille were defensively.

Achraf Hakimi – 5/10. He got a little better when moved back to a more defensive kind of role at right back in the 2nd half but in general he just seemed to struggle down the right side as the right winger. He couldn’t get in behind because Marseille weren’t trying to play an aggressive defensive line and he just couldn’t let his quality do any talking because Marseille down that side with Emerson and Nayef Aguerd as well as some help from Pierre-Emil Højbjerg, had that side on lock. It’s very tricky to beat 3 players as one by yourself or even with the help of a teammate because Marseille always had an extra body.

Goncalo Ramos – 4/10. He was starved of service all game, barely saw the ball in and around the Marseille box and he also just couldn’t get into the game and make an impact as the no9. That was because Marseille stopped basically anything clear cut from being created as mentioned above many times. As a single striker as well coming up against three strong defenders, its also a very tricky task in itself.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – 5/10. He was driving inside, switching flanks, to an extent trying to stretch the Marseille back line. But nothing seemed to work for him in attack and it again goes back to how well organised and compact the Marseille defence were. He couldn’t be explosive as he was in the Champions League vs Atalanta since the gaps to run into weren’t there, he couldn’t create because the three Marseille defenders and the two wing backs had everything seemingly locked off, he couldn’t really shoot from long range because he never really had the space or time to. He really struggled and so did PSG as a team to do anything significant in open play.

Considering how the history of Le Classique is very intense, very aggressive, full of fire and full of that emotional fight, Marseille played really well in a well disciplined manner and they hugely deserve the three points against Paris Saint-Germain. The tactics of Roberto De Zerbi and the execution from his players was perfect. They were aggressive, but not reckless. They made important tackles, clever ones and not stupid ones. They were well organised and compact, not running around like 11 headless chickens. They were together throughout as a unit.

Paris Saint-Germain didn’t have the same kind of fluidity, the same kind of connections and didn’t have the same dynamism they usually have. Luis Enrique made a mistake by putting Marquinhos at right back, it instantly looked wrong and he didn’t look comfortable there either. The best attribute Hakimi has is the explosive speed over a long distance, and starting him higher on the wing also didn’t work. A lot of the struggles PSG also faced in Le Classique was also down to how good Marseille were too.

Luis Enrique cut a frustrated figure on the touchline, and you could hardly blame him. With Ousmane Dembele collecting the Ballon d’Or across the city, PSG looked completely stripped of imagination in his absence. The timing didn’t help either, as a postponed fixture shoved into the same night as football’s biggest individual honour felt almost farcical. But the real issue lay in the team sheet. Without several key names, Enrique was left scrambling for solutions, fielding a side that lacked cohesion and bite. It wasn’t just a weakened team, it looked like a side playing without belief.

The right team won this Le Classique and it’s a massive statement too with Olympique de Marseille hoping to turn back the clocks by challenging Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title.