After the heavy defeat suffered by Olympique de Marseille against Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday (5-0), the Marseille club and Roberto De Zerbi jointly announced the departure of the Italian coach. “I have no explanation, it’s the biggest problem at the moment,” he admitted to the press after the match.
Published on: 02/11/2026 - 07:58
End clap for Roberto De Zerbi in Marseille. OM and their coach announced that they were ending their collaboration "by mutual agreement" on the night of Tuesday February 10 to Wednesday February 11, in the wake of Sunday's heavy defeat against PSG (5-0) in Ligue 1.
Arriving in the summer of 2024 and author of a good second place in the championship last season, the 46-year-old Italian was more than ever in the hot seat since the humiliation at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.
The public and the local press, starting with La Provence which had joked about "the under-talented in the capital", had not forgiven the affront in the Classic against the number 1 rival.
“I have no explanation”
The epilogue did not take long. "Following a consultation bringing together all the stakeholders in the club's management (...), it was decided to opt for a change at the head of the first team", indicated the club in a press release, referring to "a collective, difficult decision, taken at the end of in-depth reflection in the interest of the club to respond to the sporting challenges of this end of the season".
“Olympique de Marseille would like to thank Roberto De Zerbi for his investment, his commitment, his professionalism and his seriousness, marked in particular by the second place obtained during the 2024/25 season,” underlined the club.
Overwhelmed by the defeat on Sunday, De Zerbi admitted to being in need of solutions to the slump experienced by his team, already eliminated from the race for the Champions League after being notably crushed at home by Liverpool (3-0) before sinking in Bruges (3-0).
“I have no explanation, it’s the biggest problem at the moment,” he admitted to the press. “If I had the solution to this irregularity, I would find it at any cost.”
OM must now find a second wind for the reception of Strasbourg on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Vélodrome for the championship, where the club is in fourth place, 12 points behind Paris SG, after notably dropping points to Paris FC when it had the match in hand (from 2-0 to 2-2) at the end of January.
“Neither the messiah nor the savior”
The podium and direct qualification for the Champions League, essential for a spending club, however remain achievable and the Coupe de France, which Marseille has been waiting for since 1989, is always a little more than a consolation prize.
But while the team has been reinforced by supposedly high-caliber players – world champion Benjamin Pavard, whose Olympian adventure turned into a fiasco, Igor Paixao, Nayef Aguerd – OM has four points less than last season at the same stage.
In a club accustomed to wringing out its coaches, the announced project of a three-year cycle with De Zerbi had made the most skeptical smile, even if this listed coach was at the time also mentioned at Bayern Munich or Manchester United after successful stints at Sassuolo, Shakhtar Donetsk and Brighton.
“Roberto has everything we were looking for, a playing philosophy, ambition, talent, professionalism and the personality of a leader,” said Pablo Longoria, the president of OM, during the signing.
The person concerned assured that he was "neither the messiah nor the savior", warning that with him "there is never gray, just white or black". It is ultimately this last color which has dominated these last weeks, signaling the end of the adventure.
With AFP
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