Regrets, immense regrets, but also proud promises. For its comeback in the Champions League after three years of absence, Olympique de Marseille delivered a match full of courage and audacity to the Santiago Bernabéu, but finally lost (2-1) against Real Madrid. Both betrayed by two fatal defensive errors which offered two penalties to a clinical kylian Mbappé, the Phocaeans leave the Spanish capital without point, but with the certainty of having the level to compete in this competition. A hard but necessary lesson in European realism.
The dream and the fault, the Marseille emotional elevator
However, the feat seemed to be at hand, and the silence was made within the mythical enclosure. After withstanding the first Madrid waves, OM struck the first. On a winning pressing, Mason Greenwood quoted the ball and served perfectly Timothy Weah, whose finish left no chance in Courtois (22nd). The dream was taking shape. But he was short -lived. Seven minutes later, a avoidable fault by Geoffrey Kondogbia in the surface destroyed this advantage. Kylian Mbappé, in old people accustomed to the French classics, was not prayed to equalize (29th), recalling in Marseille the cruel very high level law.
A duel of guards, missed opportunities
Far from collapsing, Marseille continued to play his eyes in the eyes with the Spanish giant, giving rise to an open and spectacular match. Weah brushed the double (26th), and above all, Aubameyang, launched alone, lost a crucial face-to-face with an imperial courteous thibaut (40th). On the other side of the field, Géronimo Rulli, in a state of grace, also multiplied the decisive parades ahead of Mbappé, the young Mastanuono or Vinicius, now his team in the match. The KO was in the air on both sides, but the two doors watched over the grain.
A defeat that hurts but gives hope to OM.
The red card, a poisoned gift
Destiny even seemed to offer victory to OM when Dani Carvajal, on a stupid blood stroke, dried up a slight head of head to Rulli and was logically expelled (62nd). In numerical superiority for almost thirty minutes, Marseille had all the cards in hand to make the perfect heist. But football is sometimes cruel. On an harmless action, a hand of Facundo Medina in the surface (80th) offered Mbappé his second penalty and the goal of the Madrid victory. Ragging, frustrating, almost unreal. Greenwood's latest attempts, rejected by courteous or fleeing the executive, did not change this bitter outcome.
A defeat to learn
OM therefore leaves Madrid without the slightest point, but with a high head. This defeat is a hard lesson in the concentration and discipline required by the Champions League. Individual errors, at this level, do not forgive. If the regrets logically dominate this evening, the performance and the attitude displayed by this team completely reworked at the offseason are carrying immense hope for the rest of the competition. Nothing is lost, far from it.
