Following his brief stint as manager of Marseille, Marcelino is set to return to France on Thursday with Villarreal. The former OM manager has since taken over of the La Liga club and they travel to Roazhon Park to take on fellow Ligue 1 side Rennes in the final matchday of the Europa League group stages.
In his pre-match press conference, the former Valencia manager was asked how he felt about returning to France so soon after his rather abrupt departure from the Stade Vélodrome. Marcelino responded with a rife smile, “I feel very good, very happy to be here again. The short time I spent in France was phenomenal, maybe apart from the end.”
Marcelino rather surprisingly left Marseille after 7 matches in charge of the 1993 Champions League winners. The Spanish manager cited his reasons for leaving the club as “Intimidation, threats, insults and slander” from fans of Les Phocéens. Marcelino was replaced by Gennaro Gattuso as Marseille manager.
Marcelino didn’t take long to refind work following his departure from the South of France. The former OM boss received approaches from Saudi Arabia and Sevilla in La Liga before accepting a second stint in the role of Villarreal’s head coach in November. Villarreal travel to Rennes on Thursday night in the hope of stealing the top spot from Julien Stéphan’s team in Group F.
GFFN | Liam Wraith
