It is perhaps fair to doubt Olympique de Marseille’s ambition ahead of the start of their UEFA Europa League campaign. On the eve of their game against Besiktas, L’Équipe revealed how OM considered renouncing their UEL participation, which would have alleviated the pressure on them to decrease the wage bill and raise considerable funds in player sales.

Such a decision would have allowed Marseille to have a stronger squad and perhaps further their chances of a stronger league finish in Ligue 1. European football was, therefore, a potential sacrifice, and L’Équipe added that, had OM only qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League, their participation would have been renounced.

But Marseille are in the Europa League and, since they are in it, they are there to go all the way, as Bruno Genesio confirmed in his pre-match press conference. “We will go all out in the Europa League. I have always done that with all of the clubs that I have been with in European competition,” said the former Olympique Lyonnais, Stade Rennais, and Lille OSC manager.

He continued, “We will do everything to progress from the first phase […] it is a competition that we want to play in. It is also a competition that could allow us to rediscover a bit of confidence.” The OM manager did, however, reveal that there could be some rotation against Besiktas on Thursday, with some of the club’s fringe players set to be given a chance to impress.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle