'Tears, screams, hugs' - Inside Marseille's Champions League return as Mason Greenwood & Co rally back against 'mutiny' claims

Marseille booked their return to the Champions League on Saturday night thanks to a 3-1 win over Le Havre. The French side were the subjects of reports claiming the squad had turned against manager De Zerbi last month after a run of four losses in five league games, with Mason Greenwood spending time on the bench after having his attitude questioned.

Marseille had started the campaign brilliantly and were tipped to challenge Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title. They gradually fell away from contention and a string of losses helped confirm PSG as winners once again, but OM will be back in the Champions League for the first time since 2022-23 thanks to their late run of positive form.

Greenwood said as quoted by Foot Mercato: "It's an important victory. All season we've been trying to qualify for the Champions League and we've finally achieved our goal. It's incredible, especially since the season hasn't been easy. We stayed calm, focused, all together to get there. The training camp in Rome did us good. As for me, returning to the top level is a great feeling."

De Zerbi was keen to further rubbish talk of a mutiny, adding: "We put other things into it: we spent time together, had dinner together. We trained less, but we worked a lot on unity, and it showed on the pitch; it's a family. You have a better chance of winning when you're a family. Look at [Adrien] Rabiot, [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg, Greenwood. That's why I made the decision [to train in Rome]. It's not true that the players were against me; that hurt me. There was never any mutiny."

Marseille have had no European football to contend with this season having finished eighth in Ligue 1 last season. Four separate coaches had spells in charge during a tumultuous campaign, but the signings of Greenwood, Amine Gouiri, Rabiot and Hojbjerg in the summer have proven to be astute pieces of business.

With their place among Europe's elite next season now confirmed, Marseille face Rennes next week in their final Ligue 1 outing of the season. A win would guarantee second place, but anything less would open the door for Monaco to leapfrog them in the table.