There is a chance to reach the top! De Zerbi: I hope Marseille will have this motivation and not be swallowed up by fatigue

November 8th: Marseille is currently only 2 points behind Paris, the leader of Ligue 1. When attending the pre-match press conference of Ligue 1, Marseille coach De Zerbi talked about the battle for the top spot and injuries.

Talk about losing 0-1 to Atlanta in the Champions League

When the team loses, especially losing in this way, it will definitely not feel good, but this is football, we must stay awake, accept and understand. There's obviously anger and frustration about this loss, but it's inevitable to experience moments like this in a season. This is not a "negative" moment, but a difficult moment, probably the second difficult moment this season, but for a different reason. We have not performed well for three games in a row because we have a lot of players injured. But if we can win the game tomorrow, we will be at the top of the list, and I hope everyone can take this motivation and focus on trying to get to the top instead of being swallowed up by exhaustion. We must remain strong and balanced, accepting criticism while guarding our self-respect. It's easy to drift when you can beat Paris, so if you want to win tomorrow you have to play a different performance than you did against Atalanta.

How to deal with the wave of injuries?

This Friday, I just held a 40-minute meeting with the team doctor, fitness coach and director Benatia. The purpose is to understand which players can play tomorrow. I don’t want to take risks when the injured return. When five to seven players are injured, it's always the same players and we can't really train. A lot of the players who are going to play tomorrow just played on Wednesday and our goal is not to let the injury list expand.