Bielsa quits as Marseille boss

Lyon defender Jeremy Morel was shocked by Marcelo Bielsa’s resignation as Marseille coach and believes it will be a blow to the team’s Ligue 1 rival.

Former Athletic Bilbao boss Marcelo Bielsa has resigned as manager of Ligue 1 side Marseille, in the wake on their opening League defeat to Caen.

The common diagnosis is that so feverishly does Bielsa apply his pressing game, so rigorous are his demands on the players, that his teams can not help but suffer a form of burnout sooner or later.

“Olympique de Marseille are powered by unique values and have a rich enough history to refuse to bow to the will of one man”.

Bielsa, who took over in 2014, backpedalled on Saturday and gave his resignation letter to Labrune before speaking at the post-match news conference.

“I resign from my post at Marseille”, said Bielsa, having answered the questions of journalists, to the surprise of everyone in attendance.

“I can not accept this situation of instability”.

Bielsa said he had met with club officials to finalise a deal on Wednesday, but “they wanted to change the contract“, he complained. All decisions about incoming players were taken by me along with the club president. “That was just a rumour”, the coach said in his first press appearance of the season on Thursday, reports Efe.

“I will return to my home country”.

The club and owner Margarita Louis-Dreyfus assured fans they would “take all necessary measures in the coming days to enable Marseille to enjoy a season to the height of its expectations”.

Assistant coach Franck Passi has been appointed interim coach. We are disappointed. We don’t know the ins and outs of it, we don’t know what has happened.

Summer signing Andy Delort netted the game’s only goal after 27 minutes at the Stade Velodrome, unleashing a sublime effort beyond Steve Mandanda, and Marcelo Bielsa’s side – looking to improve on last season’s fourth-place finish – could find no response. “He is remaining composed”.