Latest news with #LeClassique
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Marseille shirt burned and Adrien Rabiot's mother insulted in PSG fans' celebrations
According to a report from La Provence, some Paris Saint-Germain supporters' celebrations got out of hand following the club's qualification to the UEFA Champions League final yesterday evening. The Marseille-based outlet writes that several shops were looted while there were clashes with police. There was also an unfortunate report of a car driving into a crowd, injuring three people, with one having to be taken for emergency medical care. A video was released on X (formerly known as Twitter) showing an Olympique de Marseille shirt being burned while a group of supporters chanted about Adrien Rabiot (30), his mother, and also the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Advertisement Previously, Rabiot and his mother were insulted by PSG supporters during Le Classique in March. The France international has become a target for PSG fans following his acrimonious departure from his boyhood club in 2019 and his return to France this season to play for arch-rivals Marseille, while Hidalgo has been at the centre of a dispute with the club over the future of the Parc des Princes. GFFN | Nick Hartland
Metro
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Barton embarrasses himself again by reviving French accent in bizarre interview
Joey Barton once again had fans reaching for the mute button after deciding to revive his bizarre French accent on a visit to former club Marseille at the weekend. The 42-year-old has been out of a job since being sacked as manager of Bristol Rovers in 2023, but was in the headlines in March after being found guilty of assaulting his wife at their family home. Barton has also been involved in a bitter dispute with former Lioness Eni Aluko, who won the first stage of a High Court libel claim against the ex-Manchester City midfielder after he claimed her father was financially corrupt and that her private education made her a 'hypocrite'. However, Barton was invited to take part in a Marseille legends match at the Stade Velodrome on Friday night to celebrate the club's 125th anniversary. And while Robert Pires, Franck Ribery, Samir Nasri and Didier Drogba were involved in the star-studded event, Barton has gone viral for all the wrong reasons with his toe-curling interview before kick-off. After joining Marseille back in 2012, Barton announced his arrival to the French media by speaking with an accent that appeared straight out of BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!. Though Barton was widely ridiculed for the strange press conference at the time, the former England international decided to resurrect the accent again on Friday when asked about his infamous run-in with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. 'It was a big game, Le Classique, and Ibrahimovic was very physical with Nicolas Nkoulou and the coach said to me that I must defend him,' Barton explained. 'He fouled, he fouled and the referee… [gestures blowing a whistle]. 'After after, he speak very badly to me, Zlatan, he speak very bad. 'And it was on the camera so everywhere I go, the Marseille fans say, 'Hey, Barton!'. They don't remember the football, but only the nose.' Unsurprisingly, clips of Barton's interview have received a mixed reception on social media, with many fans calling out the former Newcastle, QPR and Burnley man over his 'embarrassing' behaviour. 'Absolutely embarrassing, that,' @ToonMouthTyne wrote on X. 'Joey's been watching 'Allo 'Allo! all week,' @paulfinlay23903 responded. Another fan, @TSnozzle, said: 'Sounded like me in GCSE French.' Several other users on X questioned why Barton had been asked to feature in the legends match in the first place given he only spent one, largely uneventful, season with Marseille. 'He spent one season on loan haha what the f*** is this,' @BillyRayMoore said. 'Why the hell is he playing in a legends game for Marseille. Is he a Marseille legend?' fodenthegoat_47 wrote. 'The term 'legend' gets thrown about far too often. It has lost all meaning,' @fodenthegoat_47 replied. Last year, Barton sensationally threw his hat in the ring to manage Marseille, before Jean-Louis Gasset was eventually chosen to replace Gennaro Gattuso. 'I am ready,' Barton responded to reports of Gattuso being under pressure at the time. Roberto De Zerbi replaced Gasset as Marseille's head coach ahead of the 2024/25 season and the Italian has enjoyed an impressive debut season in France, with the side sitting second heading into their two remaining matches in Ligue 1. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. MORE: Arsenal or PSG? Didier Drogba asked to pick Champions League favourite
The Guardian
31-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Marseille's season is collapsing and Roberto De Zerbi is not helping
And just like that, has the magic gone? After losing four of their last five league matches, the lustre has come off Marseille's season. Their latest defeat – a 3-1 loss against a Reims side that had not won in the league since early November – may be the worst of all of them. Their 3-1 defeat to PSG before the international break bears no shame but losing to Reims, a struggling Lens side and to Auxerre by three goals is worrying for a team who have not only invested heavily in players such as Adrien Rabiot, Amine Gouiri, Mason Greenwood, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Ismaël Bennacer, but also in a manager, Roberto De Zerbi, who they dearly hoped would be a stabilising force after a few tumultuous seasons. In tearing through three managers last season – Marcelino, Gennaro Gattuso and Jean-Louis Gasset – Marseille stumbled in the league, finishing outside of the European places. The arrival of De Zerbi looked like a coup given his achievements in Italy and England. He was duly (albeit controversially) backed in the transfer window, with Rabiot, Greenwood, Elye Wahi and Lilian Brassier among the most eye-catching names joining a revamped squad. It looked to be working a charm earlier in the season. Marseille were scoring goals for fun; Greenwood looked at ease; and Luis Henrique, once derided as a colossal mistake, looked a player reborn. But lately – even with another nominally impressive window in January, including the arrivals of Gouiri and Bennacer – it's been another story, and one has to wonder if De Zerbi's fiery presence on the touchline and on the training pitch has occluded his football. During this recent run of poor form, he has looked desperate to find the right attack, chopping and changing with ruthless abandon. Having moved Wahi on to Eintracht Frankfurt, and being without a natural striker besides Neal Maupay, he has used Gouiri in an advanced role, dropped Greenwood (including in Le Classique) and started Bilal Nadir. De Zerbi had questioned Greenwood's fitness and the mental strain of playing a main role in the team, but leaving him out will not have worked wonders for the Englishman's confidence, nor does it seem a smart decision in light of his goalscoring record. He remains the second top scorer in Ligue 1 this season after Ousmane Dembélé. Greenwood was back in the fold on Saturday but to no avail, as an opportunistic Reims took advantage of a Marseille team that still lacked cohesion, especially at the back. At the start of the season, when Marseille won four of their first five games and were still comfortably second at Christmas, the team generally played a 4-2-3-1, but lately, despite a lack of natural centre-backs, De Zerbi has opted for a 3-4-2-1, with Rabiot playing closer to the goal. The results have hardly borne this out as a solid strategy. The absence of Luiz Felipe has forced De Zerbi to alter his backline, but at what point must he absorb some of the blame for this tactical switch, which is yet to bear fruit? Brassier was masterful with Brest last year, playing an integral role in helping them reach the Champions League. His signing in the summer, initially on loan, looked a masterstroke for Marseille, but he made just nine starts before being returned to his parent club. Now with Rennes, he has been one of the most impressive players under Habib Beye, the team keeping clean sheets in five of his seven starts. The same is also true for Chancel Mbemba, who is yet to see the pitch this season, frozen out by De Zerbi despite his vast experience and strong performances last season. Rather than swallow his pride and work with Brassier or welcome Mbemba back into the fold, the Italian has preferred to experiment with converted full-backs (Pol Lirola, Amir Murillo) or midfielders (Geoffrey Kondogbia) in their place. Even Felipe, a central defender by trade, has only featured twice for the club since his January move. Through all of this, De Zerbi has been able to call on Leonardo Balerdi, the experienced Argentinian who has added balance to the team and allowed more callow teammates around him to maintain a certain standard. Now, though, Balerdi – who was forced off on Saturday – looks set to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, and the same is true for Felipe, whose hamstring injury looks to limit his availability as well. The pressure now lands squarely on De Zerbi. Injuries and the natural vagaries of form have played their part, but this expensively assembled squad should be performing better than it has, especially in recent weeks following a switch instigated by the manager. Will his stubbornness in excluding the likes of Mbemba, or in playing the likes of Luis Henrique at wing-back, cost this team, or can he adjust his tactics (playing a 4-3-3 with Derek Cornelius and Kondogbia as centre-backs) to add more balance to this team? Marseille's hopes of returning to the Champions League – once seen as a near-sure thing – hang in the balance, and De Zerbi's spell in charge could be as short as that of his predecessors should he fail at this task. Toulouse 2-4 Brest Angers 0-3 Rennes Auxerre 1-0 Montpellier Le Havre 3-2 Nantes Lille 1-0 Lens Reims 3-1 Marseille St-Étienne 1-6 PSG Monaco 2-1 Nice Strasbourg 4-2 Lyon While Marseille have stumbled, other sides have picked up the pace in the race for the Champions League places, with Monaco's comeback derby win over Nice the biggest result of the weekend. After missing a penalty – an issue that has dogged Monaco in recent editions of this fixture – Mika Biereth responded well to level the match after half-time before Breel Embolo slammed home a winner 15 minutes from time. The 2-1 victory takes Adi Hütter's side into second place, and while there are challenging fixtures to come (particularly a visit from Marseille in a fortnight), their form and togetherness makes them favourite to finish in second place. Strasbourg continued their charge up the table with an impressive win over Lyon on Friday night. Their fitness and constant pressure told in the second half as they racked up four goals (all from different scorers) to win 4-2. Liam Rosenior has his young team going from strength to strength and, with a fairly comfortable run-in ahead, a return to Europe may be on the cards. Four wins in a row have taken them up to six in the table, just a point behind Lille and Nice. It looks like Montpellier's race is run. After a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat at Auxerre (who dominated the match and deserved to win), MHSC are now nine points from safety. They still have a postponed match against Saint-Étienne to be replayed – or not – and a reasonable set of fixtures in the run-in but, Jean-Louis Gasset's side do not seem to have what it takes to stay up. Given the way relegated clubs such as Bordeaux have struggled over the last few years, one fears for the 2011-12 champions, who provided French football with its best story (save Monaco in 2017) in recent years. The hope is that they can rebuild next year in Ligue 2 and make a quick return to the elite. This is an article by Get French Football News
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Marseille duo Adrien Rabiot and Ismaël Bennacer fit to return
Marseille duo Adrien Rabiot and Ismaël Bennacer fit to return Adrien Rabiot (29) and Ismaël Bennacer (27) are both set to make their returns when Olympique de Marseille face Stade de Reims on Saturday. Rabiot played in Le Classique against Paris Saint-Germain before the international break before joining up with the France squad. The midfielder played in Les Bleus' first game against Croatia in the UEFA Nations League in Split, which ended in a 2-0 defeat, however, he missed the return leg with a minor calf injury. However, Rabiot will be fit to feature this weekend. Hojbjerg remains sidelined for Marseille Bennacer, meanwhile, missed the match against PSG due to a hamstring injury. In order to prevent any aggravation of the injury, he turned down his call-up to the Algerian national team for the recent international break. L'Équipe reports that it is very likely that he will feature for Marseille against Les Stadistes. However, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Michael Murillo both remain sidelined for Les Phocéens. GFFN | Luke Entwistle
Nahar Net
17-03-2025
- Sport
- Nahar Net
PSG moves closer to record-extending 13th French league title
by Naharnet Newsdesk 17 March 2025, 14:27 Paris Saint-Germain concluded a perfect week on Sunday to move a step closer to a record-extending 13th French league title. PSG beat second-placed Marseille 3-1 to extend its lead at the top to 19 points with just eight rounds remaining. The victory over its bitter rival in the biggest game of French soccer came five days after PSG ousted Liverpool from the Champions League. Known as "Le Classique," the game between PSG and Marseille became popular during the 1990s when Marseille dominated. But the southern club — the only French team to win the Champions League back in 1993 — has fallen well behind since PSG was taken over by Qatari investors in 2011. Sunday's win extended PSG's unbeaten run against Marseille to nine league matches. Still unbeaten in the league this season, PSG was in control and took the lead in the 17th minute. Ousmane Dembélé ran behind the back of the defense after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia cleverly deflected the ball for Fabian Ruiz, who set up the France forward. Dembélé then skipped past Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli and scored his 21st league goal of the season in an open goal. Dembélé has been unstoppable since the turn of the year, notching 22 goals in all competitions for PSG so far in 2025, more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues. Dembélé also scored PSG's goal when it won 1-0 at Liverpool on Tuesday to reach the Champions League quarterfinals following a penalty shootout. Marseille stayed calm at the Parc des Princes after conceding, keeping a high pressing that resulted in a few dangerous first-half chances and corners. But PSG made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute after Ruiz was expertly picked up by Achraf Hakimi and made the most of a lapse in the Marseille defense before crossing the ball for Nuno Mendes, who slotted the ball home. Marseille pulled one back after the interval when a poor back pass from Nuno Mendes was intercepted by Marseille captain Adrien Rabiot, who cut the ball back for Amine Gouiri to conclude the move. Dembélé later hit the post before Rulli stopped an effort from Warren Zaïre-Emery with his head. Marseille's hopes of a comeback vanished for good in the 76th minute when Pol Lirola beat his own 'keeper as he tried to clear a dangerous cross from Hakimi. Game abandoned in Montpellier The match between bottom side Montpellier and fellow struggler Saint-Etienne was abandoned after a fire broke out in a stand due to flares thrown by home fans. Montpellier was trailing 2-0 after Lucas Stassin scored twice for the visitors when the match was stopped by referee Francois Letexier. Television footage showed black smoke coming from the fire. Players from both teams were sent back to their locker rooms and some Montpellier fans trashed seats in the stands. The fire was extinguished but the game did not start again for security reasons, with Montpellier potentially now facing a heavy penalty. In a season marking the club's 50th anniversary, Montpellier sits rock bottom in the French league standings. Saint-Etienne is just one spot above in 17th place. Lyon subs shine Substitutes Malick Fofana and Georges Mikautadze played key roles in helping Lyon to rally past Le Havre 4-2. Mikautadze, who joined Lyon from Metz last year, scored and provided two assists after coming on in the 77th minute. Fofana replaced Ernest Nuamah with 19 minutes remaining with Lyon trailing 2-1 and Mikautadze came on for Rayan Cherki six minutes later. Fofana leveled the scoring in the 78th minute from Mikautadze's assist with a left-footed angled shot, and the Georgia international then turned finisher after Le Havre defenders failed to clear a corner soon after. Thiago Almada added more luster to Lyon's win with another goal in added time after another assist from Mikautadze. Lyon captain Alexandre Lacazette had put Lyon in front from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute. Another penalty from Abdoulaye Toure put Le Havre level before Josue Casimir scored on the stroke of halftime for the visitors. Lyon moved to fifth place in the standings, just two points behind the last direct Champions League spot. Le Havre remained 16th in the relegation playoff spot. Other results Brest and Reims drew 0-0, and Strasbourg beat Toulouse 2-1.
