The sanction fell, clearly, a few minutes after the final whistle: Michel Der Zakarian was dismissed from his position as coach of Montpellier after a tough 5-0 defeat, on Sunday night, October 20, at home against Olympique de Marseille (OM). at the end of the 8thmy league day 1.
“This afternoon I have terminated the duties of Michel Der Zakarian, announced, at a press conference, the president of the Hérault club, Laurent Nicollin. He is no longer the first team coach. Given the performance and attitudes tonight, I felt compelled to intervene. » After eight days, Montpellier turns 18 years oldmy and last in L1 with only 4 points and a goal difference of -18.
A week before their big match against Paris Saint-Germain, the Marseillais return to the third step of the podium with 17 points, three lengths behind the Parisians and Monaco, enough to face a week of work in the serenity prior to the “Clásico” ”. next Sunday.
A terrifying defense from Montpellier
At La Mosson, the idea, on the part of Marseille, was to calm down after two failed games, in Strasbourg (1-0 defeat) and against Angers (1-1). And that is what Roberto De Zerbi’s men did, helped by Montpellier’s terrible weakness.
The matter was already very clear at least a minute into the game, when former Montpellier player Elye Wahi, who benefited from Mosson’s air, opened the scoring (1-0, 1my). For Montpellier fans, the nightmare was just beginning because OM was superior in all aspects
at 36my In the 1st minute, Amine Harit scored, after a cross from Ulisses García, certainly dangerous but which Montpellier’s terrifying defense kindly let the Moroccan pass (2-0). Less than five minutes later, Mason Greenwood in turn easily broke through the rearguard to serve Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (3-0, 40my).
After the hour, the Englishman went from passer to scorer this time, after a very well-directed counterattack by Wahi (4-0, 58my), the substitute Luis Henrique scored a little more under the helpless gaze of Michel Der Zakarian, who was living his last moments on the Hérault bench. To make matters worse, their players finished the game with ten players after the exclusion of Stefan Dzodic (64my).
OM thus celebrated with dignity the first mandate of former Parisian Adrien Rabiot, who should return to his training club in a week for a surprise that promises to be hot.
Marseille fans throw projectiles at the police
Just before the meeting in Montpellier, Marseille fans, more numerous than the authorized limit, were forced to turn around. In a message spread by X, the prefect of Hérault also reported the presence among them “hooded individuals equipped with iron bars and smoke bombs” and reports “projectile jets” against the police.
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“Under these conditions, public order cannot be guaranteed during the match.”estimated, so it prohibits “the trip of all OM fans to Montpellier”.
According to a source close to the case, six CRS were slightly injured and no arrests have been made. “at this stage”. The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, condemned “Unjustifiable violence that has stained the image of football”also mentioning in passing the homophobic chants against OM chanted by the Parisian fans on Saturday in the Parc des Princes during PSG-Strasbourg (4-2).
“Homophobic chants, clashes between fans, police attacks, we can no longer tolerate that every week sport is the scene of intolerable acts”added Mr. Retailleau.
The other notable – and sporting – event of the day was the successful party of Olympique Lyonnais (OL) in Le Havre (4-0), which allowed OL to get closer to the podium, than Lille, installed in fourth place (14 points ) after the draw (0-0) against Monaco on Friday.
Brest and Rennes disappointing
This eighth day of Ligue 1 thus confirmed the trend at both ends of the French championship standings. At the top are the favorites and the battle for the European places promises to be fierce. The fight to avoid relegation to Ligue 2 will also be tough between teams that are still struggling to take off.
Lens (5my14 points), top scorer for Saint-Etienne on Saturday night (2-0) and for Lyon (7my13 points) recover from an uneven start to the season. Among them is the Stade de Reims (6my14 points), Ligue 1 troublemaker for several years, who missed the opportunity to move to fourth place after their afternoon defeat in Auxerre (1-2). The other two matches, on Sunday, Nantes-Nice and Toulouse-Angers, ended with the same result (1-1).
Like their clash on Saturday (1-1), Brest and Rennes are struggling to move forward and are currently the disappointments of the start of the championship. The two Breton teams are respectively 11my and 13my. The Brestois can explain these difficulties in Ligue 1 by their parallel discovery of the Champions League, where, for the moment, everything is going well with two victories in as many games. They will have a lot to do on Wednesday, October 23 when they receive – in Guingamp – the Germans from Bayer Leverkusen.
If the large teams are well positioned at the top of the ranking, the small teams – and therefore those with a lower budget – are also in their place. The relegation zone is currently occupied by Le Havre (16my6 points), Angers (17my4 points) and Montpellier (18my4 points). Obviously, nothing is decided for these teams, especially since in front of them, Saint-Etienne is 14 years old.mywith 7 points, Toulouse 15mywith 6 points – the train is not much faster.
