The OM coach wants at all costs to avoid an early opening score for Villarreal on Thursday evening during the round of 16 second leg of the Europa League.
Last week, Olympique de Marseille easily won (4-0) against Villarreal, at the Vélodrome stadium, during the round of 16 of the Europa League. A comfortable mattress for the return match, which will take place on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. at the Céramique stadium. In 2017, Paris Saint-Germain won by the same score in the Champions League against FC Barcelona, before being overthrown three weeks later at the Camp Nou.
Jean-Louis Gasset absolutely wants to avoid such a comeback. “The start will be decisive. But Villarreal has no room for error. They have to play the perfect match and we have to have a catastrophic match to reverse the trend. We will try to take the ball and take advantage of the spaces they will leave behind,” declared the 70-year-old technician this Wednesday evening at a press conference.
Game in transition to be expected?
Relaunched on the importance of the start of the match, the former Ivory Coast coach adds: “I expect a conquering, offensive team, which will play technically because it is a strong team when it has control of the game. It is up to us to thwart the start of the match and show our qualities. With our attackers, we can be a transition team.”
During FC Barcelona’s famous comeback against PSG on March 8, 2017, Uruguayan Luis Suárez scored the first goal of the match in the third minute of play, before Thomas Meunier was able to clear the ball.
