It was just over two weeks ago that Olympique Marseille president Pablo Longoria declared in an interview with the Daily Telegraph how he wanted the club’s “genius” head coach Roberto De Zerbi “to stay for a long period… to be like Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid”.
A fortnight later and De Zerbi has gone, and Marseille have been eliminated from the Champions League and suffered a humiliating 5-0 defeat to rivals Paris Saint-Germain in what would prove the Italian’s final act. His departure was announced at 2:35am on Wednesday.
Even by the standards of Marseille, who have chewed through 35 managers since the turn of the century, it’s been a tumultuous period.
With a resurgent Lyon now third and Lens hunting down PSG at the top of Ligue 1, Marseille have slipped out of the automatic Champions League qualification spots. Failing to qualify would be a severe financial blow.
De Zerbi’s 18-month spell in charge featured real highs, notably last season’s second-place finish that secured a first return to the Champions League since 2022. During the wild celebrations that followed on the city’s streets, De Zerbi was photographed holding a flare in the early hours, surrounded by jubilant fans.
However, there have also been moments of severe turbulence. His reign was pockmarked by disputes with players and wildly inconsistent results.
Marseille’s Pol Lirola looks dejected during the 5-0 defeat to PSG (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
De Zerbi’s excellence as a coach has never been in doubt but this job ending on a sour note is unfortunate timing. High-profile clubs, including Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, will be seeking a head coach this summer.
The Athletic has spoken to multiple sources with knowledge of De Zerbi’s Marseille tenure, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their relationships, to explain what went right and what went wrong.
It was in November 2024, four months after he arrived in southern France, that De Zerbi’s future at Marseille was first plunged into doubt.
He threatened to quit following a 3-1 home defeat against Auxerre, where Marseille found themselves three goals down by half-time. “I come from the streets, I say things as they are. If I’m the problem, I’m ready to leave. I’ll leave the money and hand back my contract,” he said, in quotes reported by AFP.
Following that defeat, he switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3, and Marseille had an excellent mid-season, losing just one Ligue 1 game from November 23 to February 22.
That run was ended by a defeat to Auxerre (again, but 3-0 this time) in February, after which Longoria accused French referees of “corruption”. “It’s planned, it’s rigged. It’s a s****y championship,” Longoria told reporters. He was handed a 15-game ban.
That defeat prompted another mini-crisis, with Marseille losing five league games out of seven, and exacerbated tensions in the squad.
Earlier in the season, De Zerbi had a training ground disagreement with Ismael Kone, which included the coach shouting at the Canadian midfielder to “take a shower” and call his agent. The incident was captured by TV cameras shooting a documentary about the club’s season and was used to promote the series on social media. Marseille say that the footage did not tell the full story of what happened between the pair, although Kone departed on loan to Rennes in February 2025.
👀 The training ground altercation between Roberto De Zerbi and Ismaël Koné (23) which led to the Canadian’s January departure from Marseille.
🎥 Olympique de Marseille on Youtube pic.twitter.com/SJzzDng8Yw
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) August 4, 2025
There was another showdown with the squad after a 3-1 loss at Reims in March, widely reported in France at the time. In the aftermath of that defeat, De Zerbi took the squad to a training camp in Rome, where they were woken in the early hours to start training.
There were efforts to improve team bonding, with a barbecue at the hotel and dinners out together. The ritiro seemed to have the desired effect, as Marseille returned to form late in the season to claim the runners-up spot in Ligue 1.
Marseille had ambitions of building on that, with another major squad overhaul in the summer, signing 12 new players, including Igor Paixao from Feyenoord, English duo Angel Gomes (now on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers) and CJ Egan-Riley, Nayef Aguerd from West Ham United, USMNT star Tim Weah on loan from Juventus, and the returning Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after a spell in Saudi Arabia. There were also some notable departures, such as Luis Henrique to Inter.
But Marseille were quickly in crisis. They lost their first league game of the season, 1-0 against Rennes, who had been playing with 10 men for an hour. It prompted an argument in the changing room between Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe, resulting in security staff being called.
Both players were placed on the transfer list and subsequently sold to Milan and Bologna.
Rabiot’s departure was a major setback for De Zerbi — the France international had scored 10 goals the previous season — and despite a flurry of wins that sent them briefly top of Ligue 1 (including one against PSG), Marseille’s inconsistencies returned.
After losing at home to struggling Nantes in the first game back after the winter break, Marseille travelled to Kuwait to play PSG in the Trophee des Champions.
Having arrived late at night, a source close to the dressing room told The Athletic that Medhi Benatia, a very hands-on sporting director who began his playing career at Marseille, called for a team meeting, which De Zerbi did not attend.
Medhi Benatia is a busy sporting director at Marseille (Alex Martin/ AFP via Getty Images)
In a long meeting, which started at close to midnight and lasted over two hours, he emphasised the importance of the PSG game and told them their performance against Nantes was unacceptable. The Athletic were also told by the same dressing room source that there was a disagreement between Medhi and captain Leonardo Balerdi. Marseille declined to comment when approached.
In Kuwait, Marseille turned in an impressive performance and were leading PSG 2-1, before conceding a 95th-minute equaliser. PSG went on to win on penalties.
De Zerbi told the media he cried after the defeat, while Benatia hinted at a possible exit. In quotes to the media reported by beIN Sports, Benatia said: “Before long, you’ll see that there will be other people in our place; we’ll have to give them time to work.”
The next flashpoint came in January, when defender Amir Murillo was sold to Besiktas, after Marseille conceded two late goals to draw 2-2 away at Paris FC.
A dressing room source told The Athletic that the squad were being shown clips of the game by De Zerbi at the training ground, with Murillo the subject of particularly scathing criticism. It ended with De Zerbi telling him he had no future at the club. He subsequently joined Besiktas in Turkey.
Addressing the incident at a press conference shortly after, De Zerbi told the media, in quotes reported by Get French Football News: “I accept footballing errors, I make more than anyone. But there is one thing I want to see from my players: hunger. Everyone must see it. If I take a decision like this, it’s because I have my reasons on the pitch.”
A source close to De Zerbi said the Italian is an emotional character and would not shy away from his style, but added that it was ultimately the club’s decision to sell Murillo. Marseille say that the player’s lack of engagement was the issue but that his time at the club enabled him to secure a good move.
Amir Murillo faced criticism from Roberto De Zerbi (Thibaud Moritz/AFP via Getty Images)
There were also mixed results in the Champions League. Before the final night of the league phase, Marseille were 19th in the table, but seemed destined for the knockout play-off phase after notable wins over Ajax and Newcastle United.
Yet there was a cruel twist to come. First, Marseille slumped to a humiliating 3-0 defeat away to Club Brugge and then Benfica, needing to beat Real Madrid by two goals to edge them out on goal difference, scored a 98th-minute goal through their goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
Benatia called it “a s****y night, in quotes reported by L’Equipe. “I’ve lost many matches in my career — many, many matches. But rarely have I felt a sense of shame like this.”
That late drama at the Estadio da Luz set off a chain of events that would ultimately result in De Zerbi’s departure two weeks later.
The following day, a Thursday, reports emerged in the French media that De Zerbi could depart, although these were denied by the club. Meanwhile, Marseille flew to Paris, having made arrangements to train at Clairefontaine, France’s national football centre, before their match away to Paris FC on the Saturday night.
However, De Zerbi did not take training at Clairefontaine, with his assistant Andrea Maldera overseeing the session instead. Marseille said De Zerbi was unwell. That evening, the Italian held talks with Longoria and Benatia.
He returned to take training on Friday, where he addressed his players. A dressing room source told The Athletic that De Zerbi asked them not to talk about the previous 48 hours, but focus on the Paris FC match.
Later that day, De Zerbi tried to offer some reassurance when he spoke at a press conference, saying he had the “strength to stay in Marseille for another five or six years”.
“Marseille is the place for me, I don’t know if I’m the ideal coach for Marseille,” he said. “There are results and performances. I have a strong team but we have a problem, a lack of regularity and consistency.”
If De Zerbi was hoping for a positive reaction in Paris, he did not get one.
“I’m ready to go to war tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. I come from the very bottom, I come from nothing, I’m used to fighting all the time,” De Zerbi told reporters after the 2-2 draw. “The first thing is to be hungry, I’m telling you this because I told the players. What we’re putting in isn’t enough.”
Returning to the Velodrome for their next game, a Coupe de France fixture at home against Rennes, Marseille’s players were greeted with a banner in the stands saying “Manque de stabilite, d’ambition et de couilles, tous responsables, honte a vous!” (‘No stability, ambition or balls, everyone is responsible, shame on you!’)
Marseille won 3-0 to ease the pressure but respite was brief: following the disastrous 5-0 defeat against PSG at the Parc des Princes on Sunday night, the outcome felt inevitable, with De Zerbi lamenting his side’s inconsistency again.
Marseille slump to a damaging defeat at Club Brugge (Kurt Desplenter/BELGA/AFP via Getty Images)
Amid the uncertainty, De Zerbi and the Marseille squad flew back late on Sunday night and stayed overnight at Marseille’s La Commanderie training ground. Longoria and Benatia didn’t return with the playing squad. De Zerbi then took charge of training on Monday and Tuesday as planned.
Later on Tuesday, De Zerbi met with the club hierarchy, namely Longoria and Benatia, now back in Marseille, while American owner Frank McCourt also dialled in remotely. They met to try to find solutions, but ultimately they concluded there was no way forward and agreed to part ways. The club made the news official at 2.35am on Wednesday, to avoid journalists leaking the information before them. De Zerbi has returned to Italy.
Marseille felt they needed to act because of the issues around inconsistency and the manner of the defeats.
However, De Zerbi’s exit didn’t spell the end of the drama, with RMC Sport reporting that Benatia then offered his resignation, which was turned down. Marseille declined to comment on that when asked by The Athletic.
“When a coach leaves, it’s like a member of the family is leaving,” Benatia told L’Equipe. “It always hurts. He is far from being the only one at fault. We will have to find better solutions.”
Looking for a response to the PSG embarrassment, Marseille face Strasbourg at the Velodrome on Saturday afternoon, with Jacques Abardonado taking temporary charge. A section of the stadium housing some of the club’s most vocal fans will be empty for the first 15 minutes of the game as part of a protest.
Marseille confirmed to The Athletic that McCourt will attend the Strasbourg game.
And as for De Zerbi?
He would point to last season’s second-placed finish as a clear success, while his 57 per cent win percentage was the highest of any Marseille coach this century. It is the first time he has left a club midway through a season, and there is a sense on his part of feeling let down by how things ended.
Few would dispute that Marseille are one of the most challenging clubs in Europe to manage, with the passion and fervour that so attracted De Zerbi in the first place also making for a tough working environment.
And while there were questions raised over his man-management style and occasional losses of temper with his squad, there was also evidence that he had a deep bond with the squad — even with those whose time at the club ended unhappily.
In a press conference after Murillo’s banishment, De Zerbi spoke of his fondness for the player, saying he had invited him round to his house for dinner, and the decision to leave him out of his team was purely a football decision, based on a lack of hunger on the pitch.
After his loan spell with Rennes ended, it was perhaps telling that Kone ended up at Sassuolo in Italy, where De Zerbi was manager for three years.
Following the Italian’s exit, several players showed their appreciation for him on Instagram, including Weah, Amine Gouiri, Aubameyang and Aguerd. Meanwhile, the club shared a montage thanking De Zerbi, with a clip where he spoke about the passion his players must have to represent Marseille.
Ultimately, De Zerbi’s Marseille tenure may yet be remembered with affection. But for the moment, he and his old club need to decide what to do next.