Talent combined with self-sacrifice – that was the recipe behind Olympique de Marseille's crucial 6-1 victory over FC Zürich in UEFA Champions League Group C, according to the French club's influential set-piece provocateur Fabrice Abriel.
Early strikes
Didier Deschamps's side clawed their way back to within a point of section frontrunners AC Milan and Real Madrid CF with their second win over their Swiss rivals in two weeks. It was Abriel who began the festivities with two devilish free-kicks in the first eleven minutes, provoking a Silvan Aegerter own goal to make it 1-0 before scoring himself with an inswinging delivery that evaded everyone. Zürich gave themselves a lifeline when French forward Alexandre Alphonse scored on his return to his homeland, but Mamadou Niang settled OM nerves shortly after the break and his colleagues Hilton, Benoît Cheyrou and Brandão made it a night to remember for the Stade Vélodrome faithful in the final ten minutes.
'Festival of goals'
"We wanted to put lots of pressure on them right from the start to show our fans that we were getting into the game quickly and that we wanted the three points," said Abriel, who owed his starting berth to the ankle injury suffered by club record signing Lucho in Saturday's 1-1 draw against Toulouse FC. "We put maximum pressure on them from set-pieces and through balls, which lifted the whole team and gave us more confidence as well. After that, it was a festival of goals. On a personal level, it was nice to start the festival off and set the tone."
Quality present
Goals have not always been easy to come by of late, with Marseille missing a host of chances at the weekend despite Toulouse being reduced to ten men after just eight minutes. "We knew there were certain things we hadn't done in previous matches and that we needed to work on," explained the 30-year-old. "Most importantly, we had to give more of ourselves individually, make a lot more runs and show plenty of desire. We already have sufficient quality in this side, we just needed to really go for it and free ourselves. That's what was required and we managed it tonight."
Club benchmark
The triumph came close to matching OM's record win in the competition, a 6-0 success against PFC CSKA Moskva on the Mediterranean outfit's route to clinching the first title of the UEFA Champions League era in 1992/93. They beat Milan 1-0 in the final that season and a similar result at San Siro on 25 November would launch them into the top half of the group. "We've put ourselves in a good position and we're going to look for a bonus at Milan with a positive result, be it a draw or a victory," said Abriel, who joined from FC Lorient in the summer. "Both would be good and after that we absolutely have to beat Madrid at home. The fans are with us and we'll need the same atmosphere we had tonight to help swing the match against Madrid."
Early strikes
Didier Deschamps's side clawed their way back to within a point of section frontrunners AC Milan and Real Madrid CF with their second win over their Swiss rivals in two weeks. It was Abriel who began the festivities with two devilish free-kicks in the first eleven minutes, provoking a Silvan Aegerter own goal to make it 1-0 before scoring himself with an inswinging delivery that evaded everyone. Zürich gave themselves a lifeline when French forward Alexandre Alphonse scored on his return to his homeland, but Mamadou Niang settled OM nerves shortly after the break and his colleagues Hilton, Benoît Cheyrou and Brandão made it a night to remember for the Stade Vélodrome faithful in the final ten minutes.
'Festival of goals'
"We wanted to put lots of pressure on them right from the start to show our fans that we were getting into the game quickly and that we wanted the three points," said Abriel, who owed his starting berth to the ankle injury suffered by club record signing Lucho in Saturday's 1-1 draw against Toulouse FC. "We put maximum pressure on them from set-pieces and through balls, which lifted the whole team and gave us more confidence as well. After that, it was a festival of goals. On a personal level, it was nice to start the festival off and set the tone."
Quality present
Goals have not always been easy to come by of late, with Marseille missing a host of chances at the weekend despite Toulouse being reduced to ten men after just eight minutes. "We knew there were certain things we hadn't done in previous matches and that we needed to work on," explained the 30-year-old. "Most importantly, we had to give more of ourselves individually, make a lot more runs and show plenty of desire. We already have sufficient quality in this side, we just needed to really go for it and free ourselves. That's what was required and we managed it tonight."
Club benchmark
The triumph came close to matching OM's record win in the competition, a 6-0 success against PFC CSKA Moskva on the Mediterranean outfit's route to clinching the first title of the UEFA Champions League era in 1992/93. They beat Milan 1-0 in the final that season and a similar result at San Siro on 25 November would launch them into the top half of the group. "We've put ourselves in a good position and we're going to look for a bonus at Milan with a positive result, be it a draw or a victory," said Abriel, who joined from FC Lorient in the summer. "Both would be good and after that we absolutely have to beat Madrid at home. The fans are with us and we'll need the same atmosphere we had tonight to help swing the match against Madrid."
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