After firing Olympique de Marseille into the Coupe de France quarter-finals at Montpellier Hérault SC's expense, Dimitri Payet has reaffirmed his commitment to the south coast club.
Marseille were 10 minutes from beating Montpellier in normal time on Saturday after Arkadiusz Milik's opener, but Béni Makouana struck a late leveller, meaning OM had to win through on penalties.
Payet struck their fifth and final penalty, taking full advantage of Mihailo Ristic's earlier miss, to take Marseille a step closer to their first silverware in 10 years, and he was understandably delightes post-game.
"It's a bit of a lottery with penalties," he said. "It's always better to have them at home. I felt the guys were calm and Pau Lopez did really well, while we scored our five. When you're the last guy to take one it's all or nothing but seeing the tifo from the fans touched me enormously. It was a beautiful evening."
In his second spell with Marseille after a two-season sojourn in the English Premier League with West Ham Utd, Payet now has 67 goals and 88 assists in 278 career appearances for les Phocéens, and he has every intention of adding to those totals for some time yet.
"It's not always straightforward, things can change from week to week or year to year," he continued. "But that's part of what makes it so special here. Since my return I've always been involved, and I've said before that I want to finish my career here. I'll give everything until I have nothing left."
Payet, who will turn 35 in March, is under contract at the Orange Vélodrome until June 2024.
