LIGUE 1 - Olympique Marseille: the misery of Steve Mandanda

His Thursday could have been perfect. It has not happened. In a few hours, Steve Mandanda (36) learned that he was not on the list of Didier Deschamps' France team for the Nations League Final 4 in Italy and that he would not find the air European evenings at the Orange Vélodrome with the Olympique de Marseille, Jorge Sampaoli having preferred, once again, the Spaniard Pau Lopez, decisive on one of the rare occasions of Galatasaray (0-0, 2nd day of the League Europa).

Hard to digest for the experienced goalie. As L'Équipe tells us in today's edition, “his psychological state” has been damaged. The sports daily even goes so far as to speak of "disarray" to describe the feelings of the emblematic Marseille captain. The newspaper reports echoes according to which he would have let sweat his discomfort in front of his situation during exchanges with members of the staff of the Blues, which would have pushed the national coach to finally opt for Benoît Costil to ensure the function of no.3.

The goalkeeper would live very badly at the club competition which has placed him on the sidelines for nearly a month. He gets annoyed all the more because he only learns of his non-tenure a few hours before the kick-offs of OM's matches. So, according to L'Équipe, he ruminates and tends to withdraw into himself, which does not necessarily help matters.

Sampaoli recently explained at a press conference that everything remained open and that the hierarchy was not frozen in this position. However, Lopez has just chained six tenure in all competitions (three goals conceded only). Mandanda begins to find the time long. And it may not be over...