Card Rejected! The Credit Crunch Hits Home for Marseille

Poor Marseille. Last week was not a good week for them. First they lost their Champions League game against Atletico Madrid, 2-1, giving them a grand total of 0 points in two matches. But worse than that?

They got back to the airport, only to discover that they couldn’t get home. The reason? The credit card of their charter flight’s pilot had been rejected and he couldn’t refuel the plane. No credit card, no fuel, no flight.

Rather than stay in Madrid, the players and staff took up a collection (I’m assuming in cash) and came up with the €3000 gas fee.

Worst of all? Poor coach Eric Gerets didn’t have enough money left over to smoke:

“I wanted to buy two cigars, but I gave 100 euros, which meant I was not able to smoke today,” he said. “I felt as though I was in a film, a bad one. Had we won, I would not have cared, but because we lost it was a little more difficult to take.”

I wonder if goalkeeper Steve Mandanda was similarly afflicted. He’s normally pretty solid for Marseille, but he certainly seemed distracted when Caen scored in Saturday’s game. (Starting at the :45 mark.)

Goalkeeping 101:
1) When you come off your line early, don’t forget to get the ball.
2) If for some reason you don’t accomplish #1, be sure that you don’t take out the defender who might cover for you.

Oops.

Fortunately Marseille’s offense came through, and Marseille won the game 2-1, which bumps them up in to third place in Ligue 1. Think that makes up for the cigars?

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Category: Champions League, World Football