French giants Olympique de Marseille’s hopes of Champions League soccer next season dimmed further on Tuesday as a Jerome Leroy brace gave opponents Evian Thonon Gaillard a 2-0 win and a third successive defeat for the 1993 European Cup winners.
The defeat leaves Marseille winless in Ligue 1 since a 2-1 win over Stade Rennais and with just two points from their last 15. They are only eighth in the standings, eight points adrift of LOSC Lille Metropole in the third and final Champions League spot.
It leaves their morale at rock bottom ahead of tomorrow’s visit to relegation battlers AC Ajaccio and then the following Tuesday’s trip to Milan to play Inter in their Champions League round-of-16 second-leg clash which sees the French side holding a 1-0 lead.
Photo: AFP
Marseille coach Didier Deschamps admitted that finishing third was looking a lost cause.
“We are going through a tough spell,” said Deschamps, who captained Marseille to their European victory. “I would like to remind you that we have come from a long way back. We have expended a lot of energy and that is starting to tell now. There are still a lot of points to play for, but watching us of late, I know that it is going to be very difficult to take third.”
“I am just waiting for us to regain our full capability,” he said. “However, it is difficult without important players. We had a very young bench tonight [Tuesday] with limited solutions. After that there were also, without naming them, some players whose performances were below-par.”
Evian, by contrast, are heading up the table as 37-year-old Leroy’s double strike, in his first start since Oct. 15 last year, gave the hosts their third successive win and a seven-point advantage over third-from-bottom Ajaccio.
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