October 11, 2022
The brief from today:
Marseille fans banned for Le Classique
Ligue 1’s big rivalry match between Paris Saint Germain (PSG) and Marseille, dubbed Le Classique, is scheduled for this weekend. For the first meeting this season, PSG will play hosts at the Parc des Princes, but they will only be entertaining their rival players. The authorities have made the decision to ban the Marseille fans for this fixture following a raft of crowd trouble in France since last season. With this match already known to carry some extra tension due to the intense rivalry, it was thought best that this weekend would only involve PSG supporters in the stadium. The return match at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome, which takes place on February 26, will see the reverse happen with PSG supporters barred from attending. France has been facing an uptick in fan violence since last season, with supporters attacking each other, as well as players in that time frame. As a result, bans like this are not isolated to this match in particular, instead they have started to become more commonplace in the past year. As things stand, this approach seems to be the option that yields the best results for the security authorities, but it’s also a shame for the more well behaved fans who end up missing such big matches.
PSG versus Marseille is typically a fiery contest, and this weekend Marseille fans won’t be in attendance
Argentina midfield numbers dwindling
With the World Cup just over a month away, national team managers will be sweating as they watch the heavily congested schedule for various clubs. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni will be no exception, with the Copa America winning manager hoping he can have his best players when his final squad announcement takes place. The problem, however, is that he is beginning to lose some key options in the past few days, and the matches are not about to ease up the closer things get to the World Cup. Just last weekend, Lionel Messi was forced to miss PSG’s match against Reims with a calf issue, which extended into the Champions League match today versus Benfica. Paulo Dybala also sustained an injury during Roma’s match versus Lecce last weekend, with his thigh issue effectively ruling him out of the World Cup. Today, Angel di Maria also left Juventus’s match against Maccabi Haifa after feeling a hamstring problem. The official diagnosis for him isn’t known yet, but it is the third injury the winger is suffering since his summer move to Torino, and that is certainly not a trend Scaloni will be thrilled about. Argentina are among the favorites to lift the World Cup this winter, but to do that they will need their most influential players, and if the injuries from this past week become the trend, then that lofty status may need adjusting.
Angel di Maria grabbed his hamstring in today’s match, and immediately asked for a substitution