PSG will not be at Ballon d’Or and it’s Marseille’s fault

It all began with a severe storm. It totally disrupted the planned derby between Olympique Marseille and Paris Saint Germain. It was supposed to be played at the packed Velodrome on Sunday night. The Parisians’ coach Luis Enrique was looking forward to it and was even cheeky with his remarks.

"For us as a team, it's nice to play away from home and it's nice to see how, with our quality, we can silence the stadium, calm the stadium! It's nice, it's been done many times in different, very impressive stadiums" he said with a broad smile.

But then the storm changed everything and the League 1 had to give a new date. The most logical one was to do it on Tuesday, since the most prestigious reward, Ballon d’Or is scheduled for Monday night and PSG’s Ousmane Dembele is the favorite to win it. Granted, he wouldn’t be able to play for PSG anyway as he is injured, but nominees are also his colleagues Fabian Ruiz, Achraf Hakimi, Vitinha, Nuno Mendes, Lucas Chevalier and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and they are eligible to play and will be in the team. But Olympique Marseille stopped all that.

La Classique will be played in the middle of Ballon d’Or ceremony

According to various reports, the host of the derby was persistent that the league authorities must move the derby to the next day, which is Monday, and they had the best possible argument – the actual rule which says so. "When a match cannot start due to bad weather, it is postponed, or when it has been definitively interrupted, it resumes from the minute it was interrupted, the following day (except in extreme conditions), at a time set by the LFP services" states Article 548. According to the French league, Marseille made it clear that they will appeal (or even sue the league) if the game isn’t rescheduled for Monday. PSG was determined to avoid playing on Monday night due to the ceremony, but the rules are rules and will be in Marseille while their player is possible being crowned as the best footballer in Paris. This will certainly motive PSG players even more. After all, they are unbeaten in twelve league visits (winning nine of them) so the visitors are almost at home at the Velodrome.

LIGUE 1 - MATCHDAY 5

Friday

Olympique Lyon - Angers 1-0 (0-0)

/Tessmann 65/

Saturday

Nantes - Rennes 2-2 (0-2)

/Mwanga 64, El Arabi 90+6 - Blas 29 pen, Lepaul 35/

Brest - Nice 4-1 (2-1)

/Ajorque 6, Del Castillo 9, Chotard 70, Labeau Lascary 76 - Moffi 30/

Lens - Lille 3-0 (2-0)

/Said 28, Thauvin 43, Fofana 52/

Sunday

Paris - Strasbourg 2-3 (0-1)

/Dicko 81, Gory 90+4 - Paez 27, Doue 78, Emegha 87/

Auxerre - Toulouse 1-0 (1-0)

/Namaso 45+2/

Le Havre - Lorient 1-1 (0-1)

/Soumare 47 - Tosin 21/

Monaco - Metz 5-2 (1-1)

/Biereth 28, Fati 46, 83, Kouao 86 (og), Ilenikhena 90+3 - Diallo 13, Hein 67 pen/

Monday

21.00: (4.10) Olympique Marseille (3.70) PSG (1.95)