Sampaoli: ‘Frustrating’ | OneFootball

Olympique de Marseille were rescued by yet another late goal on Friday but coach Jorge Sampaoli called the result “frustrating” for his Europe-chasing team.

Marseille needed a late goal by Darío Benedetto to salvage a point at the Orange Vélodrome after Stefan Mitrovic had put the visitors from Alsace in front. OM have now scored five goals in the 86th minute or later at home since Sampaoli’s appointment as coach, gaining seven points as a result.

They are also unbeaten in their five home matches under the Argentine, but this result means they remain sixth in the table and could slip to seventh if Stade Rennais FC can win at Girondins de Bordeaux on Sunday. As it stands sixth could be enough to qualify for Europe, but seventh will not be.

“It was not easy for us against a team who got everyone behind the ball,” said Sampaoli after the game. “Fortunately we got the equaliser but we were not able to do any better than that. We would have been closer to our objective with a victory and now we need to focus on trying to win our next match. Our opponents neutralised us, we were unable to deploy our game-plan and it is frustrating.”

'Mini-league for fifth'

Marseille’s remaining games are away at AS Saint-Etienne and FC Metz, either side of a home game against Angers SCO. The target is fifth, which will be enough to qualify for the Europa League if either Paris Saint-Germain or AS Monaco win the Coupe de France.

“We equalised too late to win the game but we still picked up a point from a bad position,” goalkeeper Steve Mandanda told Canal +. “We are conceding too many goals from set pieces and that is something we need to improve. We are in a mini-league fighting for fifth place and we have dropped two points, but now we need to see how the other teams get on.”

>> REPORT: Benedetto spares Marseille's blushes