63.000 in a friendly match and still no win for Marseille

There are few places in Europe with such a fantastic atmosphere like Velodrome in Marseille. In France, nobody can match Olympique fans. Teams like Lens or St. Ettienne are close but not the best. And yet, this generation of footballers have a problem winning in front of their most loyalist supporters. Last season, Marseille finished second in Ligue 1 and recorded 20 wins. Only 10 of those came at the Velodrome and tonight they again left their fans without a complete joy. The Velodrome capacity is 67000 and tonight, a remarkable number of 63.000 was there to support their team and again see Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in action, but they saw little. Marseille managed a thin 1-1 draw with Sevilla, who finished in 17th place in La Liga, one point above relegation.

First serious chance in the opening minutes happened after quarter of an hour when Greenwood came through the right side and crossed the ball, finding Hojbjerg, but his header went straight into the keeper. Next situation already resulted in a goal. It was 25th minute when Amir Murillo came from the right and curled the ball straight to the penalty area where Mason Greenwood finished it with ease. The packed Velodrome though it was the beginning of a scoring spree, but Sevilla used one it’s rare counter attacks to equalize just seven minutes afterwards. Lukebakio was on the right and nobody challenged him. He waited for Sow to came closer and passed him the ball. Former Frankfurt midfielder was precise and sent the ball to the top right corner from 20 meters: 1-1. Murillo created another chance in the last minute of the first half, but Gouiri’s header went just wide. The home fans didn’t know it yet, but this was Marseille’s best chance until the end of the game.

The second half saw Seville being closer to scoring, mainly due to a moment of madness from the home goalkeeper. Rulli made a very risky exit from outside his box and lost the ball 35 meters from his goal. Sevilla player tried to score but Marseille defender managed to clear the ball before it went into the empty net. The only other worthy moment in the second half was Aubameyang’s entrance 20 minutes before the end.