Marseille's Champions League hopes take a hit with another defeat in Ligue 1

By The Associated PressUpdated April 18, 2026 5:13 pm

PARIS — Marseille's players are out of excuses and running out of time to secure direct qualification for next season's Champions League.

Saturday's 2-0 loss at Lorient was a third defeat in four league games and it left outgoing sporting director Medhi Benatia fuming. He resigned following former coach Roberto De Zerbi's departure, before agreeing to stay until the end of the season. He could not contain himself after such an abject performance.

“When I see matches like this I have to come and talk. It’s scandalous, scandalous," he said after the game. “What we ask for is some mentality, a minimum of pride. ... (Expletive), pride, respect for the jersey."

The top three teams earn direct entry and the side in fourth enters qualifying. Fourth-placed Marseille is two points behind third-placed Lille after it drew 0-0 at home to Nice. But Marseille will drop to sixth if Lyon and Rennes both win on Sunday.

“We’ve had six or seven inexplicable performances this season," Benatia said.

Marseille was the first French side to win the Champions League, in 1993, but has won nothing since 2012 while Paris Saint-Germain dominates the domestic scene and won the Champions League last year.

Team-bonding mission fails

For the second time since taking charge, Habib Beye took his players to a team-bonding training camp in Marbella, Spain. Whatever the players worked on made little difference.

“You have training camps which cost us money, because you want to work and forge a bond between the players," Benatia continued. “So how many of the players after the game came (into the dressing room) and tipped the table upside down? None. Everything's spotless. Which means that you play for Marseille and you accept a performance like that?"

Apathetic defending

Mid-table Lorient's first goal came after inattentive central defenders Benjamin Pavard and Leonardo Balerdi allowed striker Bamba Dieng space to chest down a high ball on the edge of the penalty area. Pavard tried tackling him but knocked the ball to right wingback Panos Katseris, who scored from a narrow angle in the 28th minute.

“So a ball that comes from 40 meters out, should I go and cut it out myself?” said Benatia, a former Juventus and Bayern Munich defender. “I can’t go on the pitch and win tackles (but) I told the players not to plan anything for the next four weeks."

Balerdi was also totally out of position when Dieng latched on to a pass and netted in the 58th against his former club.

Benatia cautioned Beye about not defending the players.

“It’s the fashion, I can’t blame him, all coaches do that," Benatia said. “But the performances are not worthy of a club like Marseille.”

Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli agreed.

“I would like to say a thousand bad things about us right now. I don’t have the words to describe how I feel,” he told match broadcaster beIN SPORTS. “We deserved nothing.”