Marseille could break the Stade Velodrome’s attendance record for Le Classique, even without any PSG fans there.
OM face their most-hated rivals in the biggest clash in French football, but Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has extended a travel ban from Paris for a 15th consecutive year.
PSG fans have been banned from entering the Velodrome since violent scenes in 2009, and this year will be no different.
Despite that, and OM’s terrible form, their fans will still turn out in their droves, with 65,800 set to attend, just short of the arena’s 65,894 record.
That may be thanks to new manager Jean-Louis Gasset, who has the team back in good form and challenging for Europe after a disastrous start to the season.
On the Parisien side, though, there’s plenty of anger, particularly from the CUP ultra group who released the following statement:
“Almost 15 long years that we, supporters of Paris Saint-Germain, have been banned from travelling to Marseille.
“Since October 24, 2009, our freedom to come and go has been violated and our country is incapable of organizing a trip of supporters for the Classique of the championship.
“This year again, the Minister of the Interior issued an order prohibiting the travel of Parisians for the match on March 31 at the Vélodrome stadium.
“The Marseillais had suffered the same fate in the first leg. We no longer support this discriminatory treatment of football fans, any more than we like the sanitized atmosphere of stadiums without opposing fans.
“Despite the rivalry with Olympique de Marseille, we obviously want the presence of their supporters each season during the match in Paris.”
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