Marcel Desailly believes ‘surprising’ PSG can match Marseille’s 1993 Champions League win | OneFootball

Marcel Desailly has compared the current iteration of Paris Saint-Germain favourably to his former Olympique de Marseille side that won the 1993 Champions League.

Speaking at a press conference for the 2024 Laureus Awards, Desailly suggested that there could be another team to join his Marseille in their feat of winning Europe’s premier competition, with the former player believing there are similar signs between the Marseille of old and the current PSG.

As Desailly explains, “The last few seasons, PSG had a lot of top players. It makes me think of Marseille of my time. We won the first Champions League in French football when no one expected it anymore. There was a real drop in quality in terms of players and then suddenly we did it.”

Marcel Desailly: ‘They can create a surprise’

Marseille before they won the competition had lost a host of stars with Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle, and Carlos Mozer all leaving ahead of the season, something that PSG can relate to with Neymar (32) and Lionel Messi (36) exiting the capital last summer.

There were very few ahead of the season that the current PSG squad would make it to the final four, but the club have managed to pull off a few surprises, and as Desailly explains, could deliver another along the way: “Paris lost Neymar and Messi, but they can create a surprise and shock the whole of the footballing world.”

GFFN | Nick Hartland