TOPS
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is definitely not the only “Mr. Europa” at OM. His defense friend, Chancel Mbemba, stole the show by reviving the Olympians against Atalanta this Thursday (1-1). All of this is a brilliant inspiration from the half-pipe, worthy of an attacking midfielder in full confidence (20th). His fourth goal of the season in C3, at the best of times for someone whose return from injury is decidedly timely. Before that, he had been beaten in the duel to open the score before regaining his rhythm and his taste for combat. The Congolese even came close to the double after a failed exit from the opposing goalkeeper (55th).
He was expected, he responded very quickly. Ten minutes, the time it took Gianluca Scamacca to silence the boiling Vélodrome, with an unstoppable cross strike (11th). At the beginning and at the conclusion of an action that he himself had created from scratch, of putting his back on the game before letting go (easily) of Murillo. A permanent threat up front but also in the midfield, where he brought his size and his knowledge of duels, the Italian scored his 9th goal in two months, all after having already defeated Liverpool at Anfield (0-3). And he won his goalscoring duel with Aubameyang (see below).
Evening captain in the absence of suspended Samuel Gigot, Geoffrey Kondogbia lived up to his status. His sense of combat was invaluable against the technical finesse of the Atalanta midfielder. Not necessarily left out in the field (85% of successful passes), the former Atlético player could have taken his performance to another dimension if his pure strike had passed under Musso’s bar and not into the net on the corner North (59th).
FLOPS
An evening to forget for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. So clinical for several months, a strong man and symbol of OM’s continental campaign, the Gabonese will have harvested this Thursday. Always generous in effort and untenable in wide open spaces, the former Arsenal player sometimes missed his “Madjer” (34th), his volley (36th) but also his cross shot (42nd). No more return after the break, with a timid volley (47th) then a curling shot sent into the North bend (53rd). At his side, his partner Ismaila Sarr was hardly more successful. Less visible up front, the Senegalese will have procrastinated too much in the area (48th) before believing in the goal of the deliverance (64th), refused for offside just before his exit.
The score imperfectly tells the performance of the Bergamo rearguard. The Olympian failures a little more. And for good reason, the visitors’ defense was constantly found wanting in depth, while its goalkeeper Juan Musso came close to disaster on several occasions. Already passive, but above all powerless on the inspiration of Mbemba, the Dea goalkeeper made his defenders break into a cold sweat, like on this failed exit from a corner (55th). A minute later, the Argentinian came out of his goals almost for no reason, almost failing to give Clauss a goal (56th). Worse, his panic when resisting Moumbagna’s pressure a good thirty meters from his goals (74th), each time without consequence, miraculously.
