Garcia blasts ‘unacceptable’ Marseillle after Cup humiliation
SAINT-ETIENNE ( France): Marseille coach Rudi Garcia lashed out at his “unacceptable” side after they were embarrassingly dumped out of the French Cup 2-0 by fourth-tier Andrezieux, while Paris St Germain strolled past fifth division side Pontivy.
Goals from Bryan-Clovis Ngwabije in the 17th minute and Florian Milla seven minutes from the end humiliated Marseille, who last season reached the final of the Europa League, and left Garcia’s off-form side winless in seven matches.
“This is unacceptable,” Garcia said to reporters. “Well done to Andrezieux, who showed that they were a team that wanted it and fought together, something that we desperately lacked.”
PSG meanwhile comfortably beat Pontivy 4-0 despite a host of changes and performing well below their best, with both Neymar and Kylian Mbappe on the scoresheet for the runaway Ligue 1 leaders, who were only a goal up at the break following an own goal for the unfortunate Sylvain Jule.
Julian Draxler completed the rout with three minutes left, latching onto a Neymar pass before clipping home.
In Saint-Etienne, Marseille had 28 shots on goal but couldn’t finish their chances and were punished by their lowly opponents on what Garcia called a “very bad day”.
Defender Ngwabije, who hadn’t scored a goal since the start of the season, told Eurosport that he had “dreamed” of making such a big impact.
Marseille’s poor recent run of form has seen them knocked out of both domestic cup competitions and the Europa League, which they exited at the group stage last month after picking up just one point from six matches and finishing bottom of Group H.
They are also a whopping 20 points behind PSG, but more importantly are five away from Lyon and the final Champions League place.
Marseille join fellow Ligue 1 sides Montpellier, Nimes and Angers out of the cup. — AFP