Marseille-Strasbourg is a match from the 18th day of Ligue 1 and is played Friday at 9pm: stats, likely lineups, TV and predictions.
After a 20-day stop due to the Christmas break, the French top league restarts and it does so with the advance match at the Orange Velodrome between Gennaro Gattuso’s Marseille and Patrick Vieira’s Strasbourg, two former midfielders who were protagonists of many battles in the early 2000s and both on the pitch in the 2006 World Cup final won by Lippi’s Italy.
The Calabrian coach, who took over in the fall from the resigning Marcelino, has managed to bring some serenity back to an explosive environment, in which the resounding elimination from the Champions League already in the preliminaries had acted as a detonator and with the fans on the warpath. Marseille, with Gattuso at the helm, has regained an identity and even recovered a few positions in the standings, moving just four points behind fourth place, which from next year guarantees qualification for the new expanded Champions League. The Phocéens also made it through the group stage of the Europa League, but to advance to the round of 16 they will first have to contend with Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk in the play-off.
Gattuso, mission fourth place
On the last league day, which was played last December 20, Marseille had not gone beyond a 1-1 draw with Montpellier: however, Gattuso’s team managed to extend the positive series. Veretout and his teammates’ last defeat was in November.
It did not particularly shine instead in the first outing of 2024, beating “only” 1-0 the modest Thionville in the French Cup. More rounded was the victory of Strasbourg, which last Saturday smacked four off Avoine Chinon: four like the consecutive victories of Vieira’s men, who had ended 2023 with no less than three wins in a row. The Alsatians saw only one player leave for Ivory Coast, host country of the upcoming African Cup of Nations: it is Guinean defender Sow. The Marseille squad that will be involved in Africa’s top continental competition in the coming days is more numerous: Gattuso has to give up Mbemba, Ounahi, Harit, Ndiaye, Sarr and Gueye.
The Prediction
Strasbourg is a different team from the one at the start of the league and could create more than one problem for a Marseille grappling with numerous absences, not least because of the African Cup of Nations. Gattuso’s men, however, have never lost at home (6 wins and two draws) and start favored in a match in which they should both score, as they did in the first leg match played in November that ended 1-1.
Marseille-Strasbourg
likely lineups.
MARSEILLE (3-5-2): Pau Lopez; Meïté, Gigot, Balerdi; Clauss, Nadir, Kondogbia, Veretout, Murillo; Vitinha, Aubameyang.
STRASBOURG (4-2-3-1): Sels; Guilbert, Perrin, Sylla, Senaya; Sissoko, Mwanga; Bakwa, Gameiro, Diarra; Emegha.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
