In just a few weeks, Olympique de Marseille have gone from within reach of Paris Saint-Germain, to their second place in Ligue 1 coming under threat.
However, it appeared that Marseille would regain some ground this Sunday at home in the Vélodrome against Strasbourg. Yet in just two minutes, everything came crashing down as Jean-Eudes Aholou scored twice in the final moments resulting in a 2-2 draw.
Visibly angry, Jonathan Clauss spoke about the draw stating, “I am frustrated, annoyed…We made a very average start, we took a red which hurt us. We held out until half-time, even if Strasbourg had their moments.”
Despite the early dismissal of Leonardo Balerdi, Clauss believed his team could have done much more. He added, “We could have continued to push forward. We curled up a little, telling ourselves that we wanted to keep the score. Sometimes the best way to defend it’s to move forward. There, we just waited and it didn’t work for us. Afterwards, there are matches where we wait and nothing happens, we’ll say that it’s very well played. I think that we could have continued to move forward a little. But here we are, it’s done, it’s done…It’s just a shame that we got stuck at the end, because in the end, the desire and the concentration, we were there almost all the time. We messed up 5 minutes.”
The 30-year-old French International appeared to be deeply frustrated after the recent match between OM and Strasbourg. While the draw itself was a bitter pill to swallow, his frustration seemed to stem from a season of setbacks and near misses. Marseille’s recent exit from the Coupe de France and European competition have left them in danger of losing the ground they worked so hard to gain. The former Champions League-winning club will look to bounce back in their next match against Reims.
GFFN | Tony DesRois
