Marseille bid to take league form into Europe

French champions Marseille will take a seven-game unbeaten domestic run into their Champions League match with Slovakians MSK Zilina on Tuesday, as they seek their first win of the campaign.

The only French side to have won Europe’s top club title lost their opening two matches against Spartak Moscow and Chelsea but will be optimistic that they can set that right with a win over Zilina, who are also without a point.

Marseille have recovered well after losing their first two domestic league matches and have put together a run of four wins and three draws to lie fourth in the table, just four points adrift of leaders Rennes.

Their 1-0 win over Nancy on Saturday saw France international striker Loic Remy score his first goal for the club since his close-season move from Nice.

It will have come as something of a relief to Marseille coach Didier Deschamps, as fellow new recruit Andre-Pierre Gignac has just one goal to his name since his big-money move from Toulouse.

Wingers Mathieu Valbuena and Andre Ayew have enjoyed encouraging starts to the season, however, and Deschamps’ assistant Guy Stephan is convinced that everything will come together in time.

“It is true that we didn’t take our chances against Nancy until Remy’s goal,” said Stephan.

“However, although it would be good to see more of the chances being taken, we are on a good run and it is important we continue it.

“The performances may not be what we want overall but the results are going our way.”

With the exception of centre-back Vitorino Hilton (adductors), Deschamps has a fully fit squad to choose from and could deploy Valbuena and centre-back Stephane Mbia from the start after they both began the Nancy game on the bench.

Zilina arrive on the back of a much more convincing victory in the league, having humbled Zlate Moravce 4-0 last Friday.

In contrast to Marseille’s woes in front of goal, Zilina coach Pavel Hapel has an in-form forward in the shape of Tomas Majtan.

The 23-year-old shot to the top of the Slovakian league scorers list with a hat-trick against Zlate Moravce, taking his tally to eight for the season.

Hapel will select from a full-strength squad, with midfielders Robert Jez and Nigerian Babatounde Bello returning after missing the league match because of illness.

Zilina fell to heavy defeats in their first two Champions League Group F outings, losing 4-1 at home to Chelsea and 3-0 at Spartak Moscow, and Hapel’s ambitions for the two matches with Marseille are modest.

“We really hope to obtain our first point in the pool phase,” he said.