Friday, November 20, 2009

 21:00 - Olympique de Marseille / Paris Saint-Germain 

Despite poor form in the lead up to the Clasico, OM defender Gabriel Heinze, who was a crowd favourite at PSG between 2001 and 2004, is under no illusions as to the importance of Friday's clash:

The match of the season!

"This is the derby and you have to play with your heart. You can throw the form book out the window," said the 31-year-old. "You prepare for it the same way you do for any other game but it's out on the pitch that it's different.

"For me, the club and the supporters, this is the biggest match of the season! The match starts a week early and if you head out into the streets people don't talk to you about the other games you've already played or won, only this one! It's the derby and it's good for football."

OM stars return

Didier Deschamps has a full-strength squad to choose from. Argentina international Lucho Gonzalez (ankle) returns after missing Week 13 while Benoît Cheyrou (groin) and Bakari Koné (calf) have shaken off niggling injuries and are available.

In this fixture last season (OM 2-4 PSG), OM's Hatem Ben Arfa made the headlines for refusing to come on as a second-half substitute under coach Eric Gerets, and this week he clashed with current boss Deschamps and is expected to be left out of the home squad altogether, despite Deschamps saying the matter was closed:

"Hatem said something he shouldn't have to me at training," said the former OM and France skipper. "He came and apologised afterwards and now it's forgotten. There won't be any official sanction. I'll still pick him if I feel he can offer us something, but there are choices I'll have to make in the coming weeks."

A month ago when the Week 10 Clasico was originally scheduled, Paris Saint-Germain were without the services of four players infected with swine flu (Ludovic Giuly, Mamadou Sakho, Jérémy Clément and Arnaud Loris) as well as Guillaume Hoarau and Zoumana Camara (both injured) and forward Mevlut Erding hadn't played in over two months.

Makelele suspended

This Friday, captain Claude Makelele is suspended while Guillaume Hoarau is still missing with a knee ligament injury. However, defender Zoumana Camara (phlebitis) returned to first team action in the friendly win against Braga and is available to make his season debut. Brazilian right-back Marcos Ceará is back after missing the last game due to illness.

"I think everyone would have preferred to play a month ago. At the final whistle on Friday, the rescheduling will have favoured the side that wins. Obviously we had more players missing a month ago. Today, we're basically at full strength minus Claude and Guillaume," said right-sided player Christophe Jallet.

"But this is still going to be tough game. We know we can't afford to make any mistakes. If we want to rejoin the leading pack, then we need to get points, and quickly!"

Probable teams:

Marseille: Mandanda; Bonnart, Hiltonm Heinze, Taiwo; Lucho Gonzalez, Mbia, Be. Cheyrou; Abriel (or Valbuena), Brandao, Niang (c)

Paris: Coupet; Ceara, Z. Camara (or S. Traoré), M. Sakho, Armand (c); Chantôme, Clément, Sessegnon; Jallet, Erding, Luyindula

>> Media Guide: Clasico Special