Marseille can secure second place in Ligue 1 if they come out on top against Rennes at the Stade Velodrome in their final fixture of the 2024-25 campaign on Saturday night.
Les Olympiens are looking to complete their first league double over Les Rouge et Noirs since the 2006-07 season after winning the reverse fixture at Roazhon Park by a 2-1 scoreline in January.
Match preview
© Imago
After two seasons away from the Champions League, Marseille have secured their place at Europe's top table for 2025-26, as a 3-1 win away against Le Havre last weekend guaranteed a top-three finish in Ligue 1 with a game to spare.
Les Olympiens were level at 1-1 heading into a nervy final five minutes until top scorer Mason Greenwood fired the visitors in front with his 20th goal of the season in all competitions, before Amine Gouiri sealed the victory with his second strike of the match deep into stoppage time.
Roberto De Zerbi has achieved what he set out to do in his first season as Marseille boss; challenging Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain for the title was always going to be a tall order, but the Italian can take pride in seeing his side boasting best-of-the-rest status heading into their final game of the season.
Sitting second in the Ligue 1 standings and one point above Monaco in third, Marseille have scored 70 goals in 33 league matches, which is their best tally at this stage since 1970-71 (74) - this is already their third-best total of the 21st century after scoring 76 goals in 2014-15 and 80 in 2017-18 in seasons with 38 games.
Les Olympiens head into Saturday's contest having won three of their last four home fixtures against Rennes without conceding a single goal. They have also finished just one of the last 12 seasons with a defeat in Ligue 1 (W7 D4), so they have reason to be optimistic of success this time around.
© Imago
After an impressive run of four consecutive top-six finishes in Ligue 1 between 2020 and 2023, Rennes have since endured a challenging couple of seasons and are in danger of finishing the current campaign in the bottom half of the table.
Over €150m was forked out on new players across the last two transfer windows - they were the third-highest spenders in world football in January when they brought in seven players for a combined €74.5m - but most of their new additions have failed to reach the heights expected at Roazhon Park.
The man behind their transfer dealings was sporting director Frederic Massara, who officially departed Les Rouge et Noirs by mutual consent on Thursday and Loic Desire is expected to replace him after deciding to leave his role as Strasbourg's head of recruitment.
Head coach Habib Beye remains in the Rennes dugout, though, and he celebrated his eighth win in 14 games last weekend when goals either side of half time from leading marksman Arnaud Kalimuendo - who now has 18 goals to his name this season - sealed a 2-0 home win over Nice.
Sitting 11th in Ligue 1 and one point behind Auxerre in 10th, Rennes are hoping to end the season on a high as they have done in previous years, winning four and drawing two of their last seven final-day matches in the French top flight.
Team News
© Imago
Marseille will be without Ruben Blanco and Ismael Bennacer as they continue to recover from respective ankle and groin injuries, while Geoffrey Kondogbia (unspecified) is a doubt after missing the win over Le Havre.
De Zerbi may be tempted to make a few changes to his starting lineup, with the likes of Luiz Felipe, Quentin Merlin, Amine Harit and Neal Maupay all pushing for a recall.
However, the Italian may instead opt to stick with a side that has won three of their last four games (D1), with midfield trio Valentin Rongier, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Adrien Rabiot operating behind attackers Jonathan Lowe, Gouiri and Greenwood, the latter of whom with 19 league goals is just two behind Ousmane Dembele in the race for the Golden Boot.
As for Rennes, Christopher Wooh is suspended after accumulating three yellow cards over a span of 10 games, while Ayanda Sishuba and Alidu Seidu are ruled out with respective hamstring and knee injuries.
Beye will consider sticking with a 4-3-3 system that was deployed in the win over Nice, with Lorenz Assignon potentially recalled to start at right-back and join Anthony Rouault, Lilian Brassier and Adrien Truffert in the back four.
Midfielders Jordan James and Seko Fofana will be hoping to force their way into the first XI, while Ludovic Blas and Musa Al-Taamari are the most likely duo to provide support in attack for central striker Kalimuendo.
Marseille possible starting lineup:
Rulli; Murillo, Balerdi, Cornelius, Merlin; Rongier, Hojbjerg, Rabiot; Greenwood, Gouiri, Lowe
Rennes possible starting lineup:
Samba; Assignon, Rouault, Brassier, Truffert; Kone, Fofana, James; Al-Taamari, Kalimuendo, Blas
We say: Marseille 3-1 Rennes
While Marseille have picked up as many points on home soil as they have on the road (31) this season, Rennes have accumulated only 31.7% of their Ligue 1 points away from home (13) - the third-worst record in the division.
Both teams will be keen to end the season on a high, but we are backing Marseille to get the job done in front of their own fans and secure second spot for the third time in six years, forcing Rennes to finish in the bottom half for the first time since 2013-14.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
