Seventeen Years is a Long Time: Marseille Wins First Silverware Since 1993

By: Laurie | March 27th, 2010

marseille2

The year was 1993, and Marseille had just won the equivalent of today’s Champions League. Who knew that was the beginning of a silverware drought that would last seventeen years?

That drought ended Saturday in the Coupe de la Ligue against Bordeaux, with a little help from a “traitor,” an own goal, and a beloved player who can’t seem to crack the starting eleven.

Souleymane Diawara, who joined l’OM from Bordeaux last summer, opened the scoring with an absolute bullet header. Then Mathieu Valbuena, who’s struggled for playing time under Didier Deschamps, blasted in a left-footer off a Hatem ben Arfa assist.

That’s when Bordeaux seemed to decide not to waste anymore energy on the match; with a Champions League quarterfinals match against Lyon to think about, they pulled playmaker Yoann Gourcuff and strike Marouane Chamakh and let the match play out. Which it did, with the help of a Mathieu Chalmé own goal. 3-0 Marseille.

Bordeaux pulled one back in the dying minutes off a Ludovic Sané header (because Marseille had to let in their requisite goal-off-a-set-piece), but in the end it’s Marseille going home with a Cup for the first time since manager Deschamps was a player.

Marseille 3-1 Bordeaux finale Coupe de la Ligue 2010
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(Photo REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)

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Sarah

But the real question is what does this win mean for the rest of Marseille's season - will this make OM hungry for more success or has winning this trophy left OM too satisfied/complacent to make the final push for the Ligue 1 title. That discussion and more (celebration photos) on the marseille.theoffside.com blog....
Drabik

Woah! I admit I don't follow the french leagues, but I did not expect to hear that Marseille have been that trophy-deprived. I guess, I thought that the powerhouse that they are would have meant that they had won something at least in recent years.