At the end of three days, the Olympique de Marseille must win in Lille to stay in the race at the Champions League.

The Away match in Lille this weekend is crucial for OM, which has a two-point advantage over the current third LOSC. A defeat could reduce this advantage to one point, while leaving the door open to pursuers such as Monaco, Lyon, Nice or Strasbourg.

The objective is clear: not to lose in the North in order to maintain a strong position before the last two meetings. We will then have to win in Le Havre against the HAC and finish with a home victory against Rennes to hope to finish on the podium.

Roberto De Zerbi, the Italian OM coach, chose to take his team to Italy for a training before the big success (4-1) against Brest. A repeated decision before the trip to Lille, which sends a clear message: collective commitment and mindset take precedence over the game system or individual choices.

The Italian technician wants to mobilise the workforce around a single objective without dispersion. He wants players invested at 100%, in a winning dynamic, as the state of mind will be crucial in this last straight line.

At the economic level, the stakes are equally crucial. A direct qualification in the Champions League would represent an essential financial manna for OM which built a three-year project around a sustainable return to the top of the European table. However, without the guarantee of C1 revenues, it will be difficult to keep ambitions up to expectations.

The next three games will therefore decide not only on a podium place, but will also commit to the very future of the Marseille project. The pressure is heavy for the OM, which must finish in the first three.