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Didier Deschamps: Olympique Marseille’s Draw Away To Benfica Was Merited
‘DD’ was left satisfied with les Phoceens’ performance in Portugal on Thursday evening, though he would concede that there were times when his side were outplayed by their hosts...
| Bet: | Returns: | Marseille £14.80 | Draw £37.00 | Valenciennes FC £80.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Marseille £14.00 | Draw £45.00 | Valenciennes FC £80.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Marseille £14.44 | Draw £42.00 | Valenciennes FC £65.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Marseille £14.40 | Draw £40.00 | Valenciennes FC £80.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Marseille £14.80 | Draw £39.00 | Valenciennes FC £60.00 |
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Mar 12, 2010 12:33:00 PM
By Robin Bairner
Olympique de Marseille’s 1-1 draw away to Benfica on Thursday evening was a deserved outcome, according to Phoceens coach Didier Deschamps.
Maxi Pereira put the home side ahead with less than 15 minutes remaining, seemingly giving the hosts a vital advantage to carry through to the second leg in France last week, but his effort was cancelled out by a goal from Hatem Ben Arfa, who scored the first headed goal of his career to restore parity to the proceedings with only seconds remaining.
“Even if we equate the time we were a little worse, we did not deserve to lose,” Deschamps said after the match, according to France Football. “This goal [Ben Arfa’s] was reward our efforts in a real European match. In the second half, we had to produce harder against quality players. So we lost more balls in the first half.”
With an away goal in the bank, OM will be favourites to progress through to the quarter-finals of the competition, though they will be aware of the potent threat that their opponents possess in attack.
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Maxi Pereira put the home side ahead with less than 15 minutes remaining, seemingly giving the hosts a vital advantage to carry through to the second leg in France last week, but his effort was cancelled out by a goal from Hatem Ben Arfa, who scored the first headed goal of his career to restore parity to the proceedings with only seconds remaining.
“Even if we equate the time we were a little worse, we did not deserve to lose,” Deschamps said after the match, according to France Football. “This goal [Ben Arfa’s] was reward our efforts in a real European match. In the second half, we had to produce harder against quality players. So we lost more balls in the first half.”
With an away goal in the bank, OM will be favourites to progress through to the quarter-finals of the competition, though they will be aware of the potent threat that their opponents possess in attack.
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2/15/12
And with that, we're going to call it a night, folks.
We've had two tremendous matches today, so lets hope the intensity keeps up in the next clashes!
Until next time, this is LIVE commentator Stephen Crawford signing off.
From everyone here at Goal.com, thanks for joining us!
We've had two tremendous matches today, so lets hope the intensity keeps up in the next clashes!
Until next time, this is LIVE commentator Stephen Crawford signing off.
From everyone here at Goal.com, thanks for joining us!
2/15/12
All this focus on the Arsenal and Milan game should not take away from another cracker earlier tonight between Zenit and Benfica. The Russians came from a goal down to lead 2-1 in the closing minutes before Oscar Cardozo levelled things for Benfica, but it wasn't over there as Roman Shirokov won the game for Zenit in the 88th minute.
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who felt his side deserved a point from the game.
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who felt his side deserved a point from the game.
2/15/12
Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny bemoaned his side's luck tonight but refused to give up. Here's some of his quotes:
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
Full story HERE
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
Full story HERE
2/15/12
Another Milan player who was willing to share his thoughts after the match was Mark van Bommel, who has urged caution ahead of the second leg in London.
“The score made it look like it was an easy game, but it certainly wasn't.
(Strange... it looked pretty easy from where I was sitting, but hey.)
“I do not think it's over yet. I remember a clash between Milan and Deportivo la Coruna when Milan was also ahead by four goals, and in the end Deportivo eliminated Milan.
“I went into the Arsenal dressing room after the match to speak to Robin van Persie. I had agreed with him to swap shirts – my sons are big fans of his and he brought two for them. They will be delighted.
Van Bommel went on to talk about a possible move to PSV in the future, but was quick to point out his terms for the move.
“I've spoken with PSV, but we don't have an agreement yet. The club has to decide what they want.
“If Louis van Gaal turns out to be the new coach, I won't go.”
“The score made it look like it was an easy game, but it certainly wasn't.
(Strange... it looked pretty easy from where I was sitting, but hey.)
“I do not think it's over yet. I remember a clash between Milan and Deportivo la Coruna when Milan was also ahead by four goals, and in the end Deportivo eliminated Milan.
“I went into the Arsenal dressing room after the match to speak to Robin van Persie. I had agreed with him to swap shirts – my sons are big fans of his and he brought two for them. They will be delighted.
Van Bommel went on to talk about a possible move to PSV in the future, but was quick to point out his terms for the move.
“I've spoken with PSV, but we don't have an agreement yet. The club has to decide what they want.
“If Louis van Gaal turns out to be the new coach, I won't go.”
2/15/12
Next up is the Milan maestro Clarence Seedorf. He only managed 12 minutes on the pitch, but watching from the sidelines he was delighted at how his team mates had dominated the game.
"Tonight everything went in the right direction and we did a very good match. You don't start a match thinking to win 4-0, but at the end i think we deserved it coz we played very well."
"Tonight everything went in the right direction and we did a very good match. You don't start a match thinking to win 4-0, but at the end i think we deserved it coz we played very well."
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