The China Mail - Marseille plunged into crisis with season just getting started

The former European champions came into the campaign fresh from finishing second in Ligue 1 last season behind champions Paris Saint-Germain and with hopes of pushing the capital club closer this time around.

Roberto De Zerbi's team also have Champions League football to look forward to and there was plenty of optimism around the Stade Velodrome on the back of the business done by the club in the transfer window.

Brazilian winger Igor Paixao joined from Feyenoord for a reported club-record fee of 35 million euros ($40.6m), while Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was another headline-grabbing recruit as he returned to OM following a year in Saudi Arabia.

Crucially, stars from last season like Mason Greenwood, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Leonardo Balerdi and Adrien Rabiot all stayed, leaving Marseille looking strong for their return to Europe's biggest stage.

But everything went awry on the opening night of the season last weekend as De Zerbi's team lost 1-0 away to Rennes despite playing most of the game with an extra man.

That was followed by what Marseille president Pablo Longoria called an "extremely violent" bust-up in the dressing room at full-time involving Rabiot and English winger Jonathan Rowe.

The two players have since been put up for sale by the club, throwing De Zerbi's plans for the season into disarray already.

"Do you think I am happy to be in this situation with one of our best players from last season, who I had presented as an example? Honestly we are the victims here," railed Marseille president Pablo Longoria in an interview with AFP.

The Spaniard added that not acting against the players involved would have left the impression that "anarchy" reigned at the club, even if it has plunged the team into crisis.

"You have to put rules in place. Otherwise there will always be turbulence."

Marseille sporting director Medhi Benatia told RMC Sport that the phone "has not stopped ringing" when asked if clubs had come in for France international Rabiot, whose contract expires at the end of this season.

He added that there would be no turning back on the decision to place the duo on the market, and it remains to be seen how De Zerbi's side react in Saturday's match at home to newly-promoted Paris FC.

Player to watch: Malick Fofana

Lyon's 20-year-old Belgian winger is a thrilling prospect whose future is up in the air with his financially troubled club needing to sell more players before the summer transfer window closes.

There is no shortage of suitors for a player who scored 11 goals in all competitions last season and set up Lyon's winner last weekend at Lens for Georges Mikautadze.

Lyon coach Paulo Fonseca has already lost Alexandre Lacazette and Rayan Cherki this summer and is desperate to keep the lightning-fast left-winger to boost his team's chances of competing towards the top of the Ligue 1 table.

Fofana should feature against Metz on Saturday, but is unlikely to be at Lyon too much longer.

Key stats

10 - The number of goals scored for Marseille from midfield last season by Rabiot

34 - Olivier Giroud's debut goal for Lille last weekend against Brest was his 34th in Ligue 1, and his first in more than 13 years

11 - PSG face Angers on Friday in their first game at home since mid-May. They have played 11 competitive matches since then, all away from the Parc des Princes

Fixtures (times GMT)

Friday

Paris Saint-Germain v Angers (1845)

Saturday

Marseille v Paris FC (1500), Nice v Auxerre (1700), Lyon v Metz (1905)

Sunday

Lorient v Rennes (1300), Strasbourg v Nantes, Toulouse v Brest, Le Havre v Lens (all 1515), Lille v Monaco (1845)

A.Zhang--ThChM