The good news is that the rivalry between PSG and Marseille is still alive. Off the pitch, at least. The street parties that erupted on the Mediterranean coast when Bayern Munich denied PSG a first Champions League crown bore testament to that. Thanks to Kingsley Coman's header, OM remain France's only conqueror of Europe's most prestigious club competition. And just in case anybody had doubts, Marseille's talisman Dimitri Payet hammered the point home with a proud - and fairly cheeky - tweet on social media.

But in order for a sporting rivalry to stand the test of time, there needs to be competition and feistiness on the pitch as well. Sadly for OM, that has scarcely been the case over the past decade. Such has been PSG's dominance in this fixture - the hosts have won nine and drawn one of the last ten meetings at the Parc des Princes - Marseille's fans approach these games with dread and resignation rather than anticipation. It seems they put more energy in to supporting PSG's European opponents than in willing on their own against the capital club. For many, the 'Olympico' against Lyon is now the game they look forward to most.

The Big Chance

This trend needs to change, and it could on Sunday. Marseille have a very real chance, not just of competing, but of beating PSG for the first time in nearly eleven years. Of course, this is partly due to the outbreak of Covid-19 within the Paris ranks - the absence of Kylian Mbappé, who has scored four in his last three games against Marseille, could be especially significant - but that is not the only reason. Marseille are on the up again, back in the Champions League, and going places under the brilliant Villas-Boas.

The 1993 Champions League winners will travel to the capital with more hope than they have felt in years. They still do not possess nearly as much star talent as PSG, but they have a strong spine, a clear game plan and, crucially, a formidable sense of togetherness.

Solidarity

The reaction of the players to news that Villas-Boas was planning to leave this summer spoke volumes. The Portuguese had wanted to follow his good friend Andoni Zubizarreta, the former Marseille sporting director, out of the exit door, but his troops refused to let this happen. They pleaded with AVB to stay on.

"The results we got last season were down to the whole squad and we felt the coach had been a central figure in our qualifying for the Champions League," defender Alvaro Gonzalez told me. "We wanted to do everything we could to make him stay. The coach listened to us and understood us."

A strong bond has developed, and both the coach and his players are convinced they can succeed together.

Dividends

In Marseille's opening win at Brest, it was obvious the unity and spirit that took OM to second spot last term is still present. It was their first competitive game for six months, and they were clearly struggling badly with the pace in the second half. The visitors had to dig very deep to secure the 3-2 success, and they did just that. These players again looked happy together and seemed prepared to put in the extra effort to help one another out.

Florian Thauvin's return is a huge positive, of course. The France winger, who missed almost all of last season with an ankle injury, looked ominously good in Brest, and even netted with a trademark left-footed curler after cutting in from the right. With the team's leaders Dimitri Payet and Steve Mandanda signing new contracts, young talents Pape Gueye and Leonardo Balerdi joining the club, and the likes of Boubacar Kamara, Morgan Sanson and Duje Caleta-Car all staying put, Marseille look stronger than they have done in a very long time.

Good news

Villas-Boas is already extremely popular on the Vieux Port, yet he could boost his status further by ending the hoodoo against PSG on Sunday. It certainly won't be easy. Thomas Tuchel's charges will also be highly motivated. But for the first time in a while it feels like Marseille have a genuine chance. For Ligue 1, and for the biggest domestic rivalry in the French game, that surely is good news.