Olympique de Marseille ended the season on a good note. While they were playing a real final for the Europa League against Stade Rennais, the Ciel et Blanc scored a victory (3-1) allowing them to snatch fifth place in Ligue 1 and therefore direct qualification for the Europa League. A lesser problem in view of the last few weeks.
Medhi Benatia nonetheless had big regrets and had difficulty being satisfied with this Top 5. “ In such a catastrophic season, for us at least, you finished two points off the podium. It leaves you with a lot of regrets…”, he whispered at the end of the meeting.
“ There were too many irregularities to hope for a better finish. With the squad recorded on September 2, there was reason to calmly think about a top 3. But the real problems of this season are the matches where we did not show up,
he continued. You can tell me what you want, you can’t play the matches we had in Nantes, Lorient, Bruges… The bad thing about this season is this irregularity. »
The now ex-sports director of the Olympian club took advantage of the latter at the VĂ©lodrome to settle a few scores, notably with the Kita family. “I always answer for my mistakes, for my record, with my head held high. Until the last match, I came to the stadium. I didn’t do like Kita, I didn’t stay at home. Because Kita did not show up today in Nantes. I’m there, I introduced myself, I was in the stands, I watched the team. I never hide”, he said.
Relations strained for over a year
While FC Nantes played its last match of the season against Toulouse, Waldemar and Franck Kita preferred not to go to La Beaujoire to avoid being targeted by Nantes supporters, furious at the club’s relegation to Ligue 2. Some did not hesitate to invade the pitch, causing the match to be stopped.
At the beginning of the month, during the Canaries’ resounding victory against OM (3-0), the Marseille leaders refused to take their place in the presidential stand in order to protest against the sidelining of Medhi Benatia decreed by Waldemar Kita. Relations between the two clubs have been particularly tense since last season and the comments made by Pablo Longoria about the corruption raging in Ligue 1.
