Olympique de Marseille is in the heart of its highlight in summer diet, between preparation matches and moving transfer windows. After a first victory against Excelsior Maassluis and a draw against Charleroi, automatisms are beginning to take shape, as well as the contours of an evolving workforce. For Roberto de Zerbi, this second season at the head of OM must mark a turning point. No more attenuating circumstances, the time is for confirmation. With the experience of his first year and the assertive support of his management, the Italian now wants to register his imprint over time, by combining ambition, rigor and Constance.
In a large interview with The teamthe Marseille coach did not shy away from any questions. Clear objectives, vision of assumed play, expectations for his players, lucid reading of the gaps of the past season: De Zerbi unrolls an unequivocal roadmap. The transfer window – which he already judges – is an essential lever in his quest for balance and competitiveness. Because the stake is twofold: building an eleven strong, of course, but also having a group capable of responding present over the whole of a season. On the eve of an exercise that promises to be intense, the message is clear: OM no longer has the right to play a reaction. It is time to build over time – and to target high.
PSG is not an obsession!
Asked about the objectives of the coming season, Zerbi is not hiding: for him, qualification in the Champions League must become a habit, even if he knows that the path is still strewn with an increasingly raised championship: “This should be a normal thing if you consider the city, the club, its audience. If you consider the results of recent years it is not so normal. I think we did a superb championship last season. Unfortunately, we have never managed to compete with PSG, but in Europe no one managed to do so. Today, when I think back to the pre-season of last summer … We had few players, we did not have the club structure that Pablo and Medhi are rebuilt. We do everything to make qualification in the Champions League is normality every year. It's not simple, because there is Monaco, Lille, Lyon, Nice, Strasbourg this year, Lens or Brest before. But that's the goal. This year, the objective is to qualify for the Champions League, and to make a good Champions League.»»
And when we talk about the duel against PSG, the Italian responds without detours, figures in support. For him, talking about classic no longer makes sense as the gap between the two clubs is still large. But the objective remains clear: to get closer and, above all, to compete: “We want to compete with Paris better than what we did last season. I am not saying that PSG is greater than OM. I say they have so far had more strength than OM. It’s not me who says it. The Classico is Juve-Inter, on ten meetings, four Inter Victories of Inter, five from Juve, and a draw. The classic, PSG-OM, on 23 matches, 19 victories from Paris, 3 draws and an OM victory, for me it is not a classico. After if you want to continue talking about classico, talk about classico. When we play against PSG, we want to win, we want to compete, but the truth, it is there. Paris last season was almost unbeatable. And this Paris, which had not Kylian MbappĂ©, neither Lionel Messi, nor Neymar, was more a team than the one before. On this plan, Luis Enrique was extraordinary». Carried by an aligned direction and a reinforced group, the OM version of Zerbi advances with more certainties. It remains to transform this promise into reality. Hope is there.
