Le Classique: When Rivalry Turns to Riot

Le Classique, a brutal war of violence between two French giants. Whenever Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain meet, it’s always explosive and dramatic. Blink once, and it’s all over before it even started.

Blood, guts, thunder, fight, anger, hate. This is civil war, this is Le Classique, this is Olympique de Marseille vs Paris Saint-Germain when the beautiful game meets terror.

The history between Olympique de Marseille And Paris Saint-Germain

The hate between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain originates from a cultural divide between the two cities. Marseille is seen as a city for the people of working class background, where it is much poorer than in the politically and financially dominant city, Paris.

Paris is known for being wealthier and being a very powerful economic hub in Europe, which clashes with Marseille, a city with a more distinct identity and history of unemployment. With such a difference in lifestyle between those who live in the capital and those who live down south, it then leads to a cultural clash.

Up until the late 1980s, Olympique de Marseille were seen as the established and more dominant team in French football. Paris Saint-Germain weren’t founded until 1970 and didn’t become a serious threat to Marseille until the late 1980s amd early 1990s.

Despite the cultural clash and contrasting ways of lifestyles between the two cities, Le Classique was never really born until 1986 when Paris Saint-Germain won their first French league title. That same year, an individual called Bernard Tapie bought Olympique de Marseille, and he is seen as one of the key individuals who helped bring the rivalry to life.

The Bernard Tapie Years: Olympique Marseille Dominance

Bernard Tapie had a desire to make Marseille great and successful and he allowed his money to do the talking. He bought star players like Chris Waddle, Eric Cantona, Didier Deschamps and Marcel Desailly, with some of those stars helping Marseille win four consecutive titles between 1988 and 1992.

The 1988/89 campaign was when the rivalry began to get seriously heated between Marseille and PSG, with the then Paris Saint-Germain president, Francis Borelli, accusing Tapie and Olympique de Marseille of match fixing.

This was a significant moment that saw the rivalry truly come to life, as well as the fierce competition on the pitch for the league title. Marseille went on to win the title that year by three points.

Olympique Marseille supporters had a saying for their continental triumph which they enjoyed taunting the PSG fans with, “A jamais les premiers” (Forever first). The success at that time though however was somewhat damaged with those match fixing allegations from their Parisian rivals as well as AS Monaco.

With big financial backing from Canal+, PSG were finally able to compete in the market for top talent with Olympique de Marseille. The Parisians were able to sign the likes of George Weah, David Ginola, and Youri Djorkaeff.

This saw the two sides dominate the 1990s equally between 1989-1998. Between the two bitter rivals, they won five league titles, four Coupe de France, two Coupe de la Ligue, one European Cup/UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and two further European finals.

Legal troubles: the downfall of Olympique de Marseille

Following the 1992/93 campaign, with Paris Saint-Germain narrowly missing out on the title to Olympique de Marseille, Tapie and the Champions were found guilty of match fixing, which meant the previous accusations made by PSG and later AS Monaco were true.

Marseille were consequently stripped of the title that year and the French football Federation offered to give the title to runners up PSG. However the club declined, with Canal+ feeling that it would anger its Marseille subscribers if they took the title that season.

Paris Saint-Germain also refused to take Marseille’s Champions League place, despite UEFA expelling the club from the competition. AS Monaco went on to take the place despite finishing in third.

Following the fact Marseille were found guilty of match fixing in the French Football Bribery scandal, the club was also relegated to Ligue 2. This allowed Paris Saint-Germain to then win the trophies they did between 1994 and 1998.

Marseille went on to accuse the Parisian political elite of conspiring against them to help crown PSG the Kings of French football, and the sense Marseille felt was injustice stemming from the political dimensions of the rivalry with the Parisian side, with Paris being the wealthy city and Marseille being a working-class city.

The violence between supporters

With that publicity and attention from the media stating the two sides were the two greatest in French football history, it came with heavy consequences, with it becoming more aware and frequent that fans would clash and get themselves arrested whenever the two sides met in a Le Classique clash.

The only major incident prior to the 1990s was all the way back in May 1975, when Marseille attacked the PSG team bus and clashed with riot police. They felt they were robbed of a penalty in that Le Classique match.

It didn’t get truly nasty between the supporters until May 1993. Fourteen people were left injured after both sets of supporters clashed at the Stade Véledrone. Marseille supporters responded to what Paris Saint-Germain fans did, who threw a dozen flares at them and burnt Marseille shirts. This incident began many years of violent incidents between both supporters.

In April 1995, 146 people were arrested, with nine police officers left hospitalised following clashes between both sets of supporters. In May 1999, both sets of supporters began Le Classique by fighting on the pitch before kick-off at the Parc des Princes. In October 2000, an 18-year-old Marseille fan, Geoffrey Dilly, was left paralysed for life after a Paris Saint-Germain fan threw a seat at him. In November 2004, Paris Saint-Germain supporters threw stones at the Olympique de Marseille team bus, which also left the then Marseille coach, José Anigo, with minor injuries. In February 2007, Marseille supporters returned the ‘favour’ from a few years prior and stoned the Paris Saint-Germain team bus upon arrival at the Stade Véledrome. Buses that were carrying Paris Saint-Germain supporters were also attacked. In March 2009, Paris Saint-Germain supporters threw more than sixty flares, including four rockets, into the away end at the Parc des Princes which resulted in one Marseille fan having burns to their neck. In October 2009, amid the swine flu pandemic, three Paris Saint-Germain players were diagnosed with H1N1 flu, and as a result, Le Classique was postponed just hours before the scheduled kick-off. Due to 2,000 PSG supporters already being in Marseille however, it didn’t stop the sets of supporters from clashing, and it saw 10 Marseille supporters arrested by riot police, and a further ten were left injured, including one PSG supporter who was hit by a car trying to get away from the scene. In April 2015, Marseille supporters threw stones and other objects at the Paris Saint-Germain team bus that was trying to get to the Stade Véledrome. It was reported that Zlatan Ibrahimovic was almost hit by a golf ball that went through Laurent Blanc’s window. Marseille fans were also blocking a roundabout near the stadium, which saw them clash with police. Tear gas was used to disperse them, eight officers were left with minor injuries and eight Marseille fans were arrested. In May 2016, both sets of supporters clashed before the Coupe de France final at the Stade de France. Paris Saint-Germain went on to win the final 4-2, but after the game, furious Marseille supporters lit two flares in the stands, which set fire to seats. 30 people were arrested but luckily nobody was injured. In February 2018, for the first time in four years, Marseille were allowed back into the Parc des Princes for Le Classique. They chose to take out 137 seats and damaged the stadium’s restrooms. In August 2020, both sets of supporters clashed in Marseille following PSG’s victory in the Champions League Semi Final against RB Leipzig. One man assaulted another man for wearing a PSG shirt and was consequently arrested. Hundreds of Marseille fans sang anti-PSG chants and set off firecrackers.

No matter the generation, both PSG and Olympique Marseille truly hate each other, making it one of the most brutal rivals in world football on and off the pitch.

Le Classique in the modern era

Unfortunately for Olympique de Marseille supporters, across the last 15 years Le Classique hasn’t really been much of a competitive fixture with PSG totally dominating. Since 28th July 2010, Marseille have only been able to defeat Paris Saint-Germain four times in all competitions whilst PSG have won 27.

Between April 2012 and September 2020, Paris Saint-Germain also went on a twenty game unbeaten run in Le Classique which includes a 5-1 thrashing at the Stade Véledrome in February 2017.

By the time Marseille defeated PSG again in Le Classique, it was during lockdown in September 2020, with a small allocation of around 3,000 people allowed to socialise outside, and it was only such a small number due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Marseille beating their rivals 1-0 in a match that showcased the intensity of the derby.

Tough tackles, physical battles, all boiled over in stoppage time with Dario Benedetto shoving Leandro Paredes to the ground. From there, more players from each side got involved in a mass confrontation and which saw it really kick off.

Shortly after the tackle was made, Jordan Amavi and Layvin Kurzawa exchanged punches, and it also looked like Amavi kicked Kurzawa, which saw the pair sent off by the referee. Paredes and Benedetto also saw red.

Then, following all that, Neymar chose to strike the back of the head of Marseille defender Alvaro Gonzalez, and he later accused the defender of racist abuse, which was the reason why he struck the back of Gonzalez’s head. He was consequently sent off for hitting his opponent, putting an end to the carnage and securing the historic victory for Marseille.

Final Thoughts on Le Classique

Le Classique isn’t just a football match between two big clubs; it’s a French civil war between the rich and the poor, the gifted and the stripped, the higher class and the working class.

A war between the north and south, and no matter the outcome on the football battlefield, whether it be at the Stade Véledrome or the Parc des Princes, these two will always fight and hate each other with all their heart, no matter what.

You really don’t want to miss the match which has the potential to be totally explosive at the Stade Véledrome.

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