AEK UEL opponents preview: Olympique Marseille

 AEK UEL opponents preview: Olympique Marseille

By Nikolas Fil



AEK were unlucky against Ajax in OPAP Arena, picking up only one point with Johnson missing a big chance in the end to win the game for the yellow and blacks. Now they face Marseille in Velodrom to keep their dream for the first place finish alive. Today we are gonna preview AEK’s clash with Marseille, while we are also gonna talk about key players from OM’s squad, including their strengths and weaknesses.

Marseille currently are in a bit of a crisis, having their manager, Marcelino resign after only 7 games in charge including the two against Panathinaikos. Marseille let go of some important players in the summer including captain Dimitri Payet and Polish forward Arkadiusz Milik, replacing them with Gabonese striker Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Senegalese duo Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr and Atleti midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia.

Manager: Gennaro Gattuso

Gennaro Gattuso is an Italian football manager and former player. He started his career at Perugia’s academy making 10 appearances for the first team before moving to Rangers in 1997, in 34 appearances Gatusso found the net 3 times for The Gers. In 1999 after a spell at Salernitana Gattuso moved to Milan, where he became a legend of the game making 334 appearances for the Rossoneri between 1999 and 2012, winning 2 Serie A titles, 1 Coppa Italia, 2 Supercoppa Italiana and of course 2 Champions League. For Italy, Gatusso made 73 appearances while he was also part of the Italy squad that won the World Cup in 2006.

He began his managerial career at Palermo, while he also had a brief spell here in Greece in Crete managing OFI. In 2017 he became the manager of AC Milan, helping Milan finish 6th and 5th respectively before leaving after he terminated his contract by mutual consent in 2019. In 2019 he became the manager of Napoli replacing Carlo Ancelotti, helping the Partenopei win the Coppa Italia in 2020 defeating Juventus 4-2 on penalties in the final. After spells at Fiorentina and Valencia, where he left months after his appointment by mutual consent, Gattuso became the manager of Marseille following Marcelino’s departure.

Star player: Pierre Emerick Aubameyang

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is a Gabonese international footballer who plays as a striker. Auba started his career at AC Milan in 2008, although he didn’t make a single appearance for them in the league, he moved to Dijon, Lille and Monaco during his spell in Milan scoring 12 goals in 57 appearances for the 3 sides. In 2011 he made a permanent move to Ligue 1 side Saint Ettienne making 87 appearances scoring 37 times in 2 years.

In 2013 he moved to the German giants Borussia Dortmund, scoring 98 goals in 144 appearances before a deadline day move to Arsenal in 2018. In his controversial spell with the Gunners, Auba scored 68 goals in 128 appearances. In January 2022 he joined Barcelona winning the league with the Blaugrana in the 2022/23 season. In the summer of 2022, he joined Chelsea on a 2 years deal scoring just 1 goal in the blue side of London. This summer he joined Marseille on a free and so far he has scored 5 goals in 13 appearances in all competitions, including a brace against Panathinaikos.

Past meetings:

AEK and Marseille have faced each other twice in the past, in the 1989/90 season with Marseille winning 2-0 in France and drawing the game in Athens 1-1.

Hellas Football 
Follow @BVBNikolas

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