Marseille were beaten 3-1 by Reims on Saturday and manager Roberto De Zerbi refused to let his players go home after the defeat, reportedly locking them in the training ground
Marseille boss Roberto De Zerbi reportedly punished his players after their defeat to Reims by locking them in the training ground overnight. The top three teams in Ligue 1 this season will automatically qualify for next season’s Champions League, while the fourth-placed team will enter the qualifying round.
Marseille now sit third in the league after suffering a shock 3-1 defeat to Reims, with Keito Nakamura, Mamadou Diakhon and Valentin Atangana all scoring for the hosts before Valentin Rongier netted a consolation goal.
Reims had gone 15 league games without a win before their triumph over Marseille, while De Zerbi’s side have now lost their last three. Just six points separate the six teams below league leaders Paris Saint-Germain and with just seven games left to play, Marseille need to turn their form around.
And De Zerbi took extreme measures after Marseille returned from Reims on Saturday, with La Provence that the former Brighton manager refused to let his players go home and ordered them to sleep at the club’s training ground.
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Scheduled rest days on Sunday and Monday were cancelled, with De Zerbi instead leading extra training sessions in an attempt to get Marseille’s season back on track. “It hurts to show this state of mind,” Marseille star Adrien Rabiot told beIN SPORTS after the game.
“We have objectives and that’s not enough. I feel like I’m watching guys who don’t want to go to the Champions League, who don’t want to fight to experience that.
“The Champions League is a big deal. There are players here who have never played in it, who may never play in it.
“I don’t understand why we’re not more hungry on the pitch at the idea of playing in this competition next year. We need to have a different mentality. There are teams behind us who are keen.
“That’s why I came [to play Champions League football]. If others don’t want to, they should say so before the matches and let others play.”
When asked about Rabiot’s comments in his post-match press conference, De Zerbi responded: “Adrien Rabiot is a sensitive player. He wants to qualify for the Champions League, like all the other players.
“There isn’t one of them who isn’t motivated in that respect. There’s no doubt about it. You have to understand why in Paris we were focused, with our eyes fixed on the goal, and here, as in Auxerre or in other situations, we can’t manage to have the same focus.
“Mentality cannot be bought at the supermarket. The mentality that I want for my team is not the one we have at the moment. I will have to explain to the players what I want in terms of mentality.”
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