DERBY DAYS/Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain: Football provides a release valve for the long-held suspicion and enmity between the citizens of the two largest urban areas in France, writes DAMIAN CULLEN
BY OUR reckoning, there are three types of sporting derbies. Traditionally, the term refers to the meetings of clubs who rather unwillingly share much the same space – such as Boca Juniors and River Plate in Buenos Aires (who clash this weekend).
A local derby is more generally associated with the battles of clubs from neighbouring towns and, with the cities occupied by Liverpool FC and Manchester United separated by less than 30 miles, perhaps this Sunday’s English Premier League is the best example of such a highly-anticipated derby clash.
And, finally, there is what is known in Spanish speaking countries as El Clásico, the regularly hostilities that erupt between the two clubs for which distance is no barrier to enmity, eg Real Madrid and Barcelona.
In France, for various historical reasons there are few of the first types of derbies, but it does host one standout Clásico – known locally as Le Classique.
Like so many other sporting rivalries, the meetings of Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain have been an outlet for, rather than a source of, the deep-set rivalry that exists between the cities.
The citizens of the two largest urban areas in France have a long history of cultural, economic and political diversity. Football, especially with the emergence of PSG as a formidable force in the French top-flight in the 1980s, provided a release valve for the long-held suspicion and enmity.
By the time the teams met in the season-defining league game at the Velodrome in 1989, both clubs were locked in a race to assemble the strongest squad of national and international stars.
With both also locked at the top of the table – and with just three league matches remaining in the season – the Velodrome clash was the title decider, and looked to be heading towards a no-score draw until, with seconds remaining, a home side that included one Eric Cantona claimed a match – and league – winning score through a wonder long-range strike from Franck Sauzée.
Simultaneously, the rivalry rose several levels, a grade it has maintained since.
This month last year, PSG claimed a major coup by taking all three points from the Velodrome, staging a dramatic comeback from 2-1 down at half-time to win the Derby de la France 4-2.
As is the case with the meetings, however, nothing can be taken for granted and, later in the season, Marseille shocked their rivals and prevented them taking top spot in Ligue 1 by winning 3-1 at Parc des Princes, a match that featured clashes between rival supporters in the stands and on the streets.
Unfortunately, violence has been a persistent feature of Le Classique. This decade opened with an 18-year-old Marseille supporter being paralysed for life after been hit by a seat thrown at the Parc des Princes. Every derby meeting has been accompanied by a huge security operation though incidents continue to occur, as in 2004, when the bus transporting Marseille to the Paris stadium was ambushed by home supporters armed with, among other objects, petanque balls – which are made of metal.
Back on the pitch, however, the traditional giants of French club soccer have a proud tradition of displaying the talents of some of the greatest players France has produced. Marseille gave a platform to players of the calibre of Jean-Pierre Papin, Didier Deschamps, Franck Leboeuf, Cantona and Franck Ribéry, who should be visiting Dublin next month.
In fact, Marseille has a strong Irish connection, with Tony Cascarino spending the best years of his career in the south of France. The Ligue 1 clubs simply had no answer to the big man, who scored 61 times in just over 80 appearances for Marseille in the mid 1990s.
Current PSG captain, former Chelsea midfielder Claude Makélélé, spent a season in his early 20s at Marseille.
Possibly PSG’s most famous player, the now Liberia politician George Weah, was the Fifa World Player of the Year, European Footballer of the Year, and African Footballer of the Year in 1995, the year he led PSG to the semi-finals of the Champions League. They lost to AC Milan.
The two clubs are the only sides to successfully fly the flag for France in European competition – which has facilitated Marseille and PSG having a national fan base, which, only adds to the derby’s importance nationwide.
PSG won the Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup in 1996, three years after Marseille claimed victory in the inaugural year of the Champions League, formerly known as the European Cup.
Three days after that famous defeat of AC Milan – a team that featured Franco Baresi, Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten, Roberto Donadoni and Jean-Pierre Papin – through a Basile Boli first-half strike, the newly-crowned champions of Europe hosted PSG in what was billed as a season-defining domestic league clash.
Boli again proved the hero, with the jaded continental kings recovering from conceding an early goal to march onwards.
Though not for long.
Marseille were banned from entering the competition the following season after a match-fixing scandal. Still, while they were stripped of their 1992-93 Ligue 1 title – thereby, notionally at least, giving the title to PSG – they were allowed to retain their continental trophy.
Fast-forward and the Champions League is once again a welcome distraction for Marseille. The team of Gabriel Heinze, Mamadou Niang, Bakari Koné and Fernando Morientes visit FC Zurich tonight, but will soon turn their attention towards the weekend’s huge domestic clash.
