Marseille missed out on a place in the Champions League play-offs in dramatic fashion, leaving Amine Gouiri and Leonardo Balerdi furious.
Roberto De Zerbi’s team went down 3-0 to Club Brugge on Wednesday, and the defeat, combined with Benfica beating Real Madrid 4-2, meant the Ligue 1 giants slumped out of the competition.
Brugge led 2-0 after just 11 minutes, the earliest they have ever scored twice in a Champions League match.
Marseille peppered their hosts’ goal as they tried to get back into the contest. Indeed, they had nine shots on target – only once on record (since 2003-04) have they had more in a Champions League match (12 against MSK Zilina in November 2010).
Yet, they only managed 0.99 expected goals, suggesting they were not high-quality chances, and a fuming Gouiri told Canal+: “We missed our opportunity. We didn’t want to rely on the results of other teams.
“We conceded three goals and that cost us qualification. The outcome is cruel because we missed our chance. With our performance, we don’t deserve anything.”
Defeat tonight.#CLUOM | | pic.twitter.com/XcZ7Lu26JB
— Olympique de Marseille