Gennaro Gattuso’s first words to Marseille players: “We’ll fight together until death.”

Olympique de Marseille manager Gennaro Gattuso has overseen his first training session with Les Phocéens on Wednesday afternoon.

The former AC Milan midfielder has been officially appointed as the new Marseille boss. Gattuso replaces Spanish manager Marcelino, who handed in his resignation following last week’s crisis at OM. The Marseille players were informed on Wednesday morning that their training session would be moved to the afternoon, meaning Marseille’s pursuit of their manager was coming to a close.

Dans la foulée de sa prise de fonction, notre nouveau coach 𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙤 𝙂𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙪𝙨𝙤 🇮🇹 a dirigé son 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 hier soir au Centre Robert-Louis-Dreyfus 💪 pic.twitter.com/xxNLOQIt5F

— Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) September 28, 2023

According to L’Equipe, Marseille president Pablo Longoria introduced Gattuso to his new players. The 2006 World Cup winner spoke in Italian and in Spanish – his speech was translated by assistant coach turned interim manager Jacques Abardonado. Gattuso delivered a clear message of unity. The former Napoli and AC Milan manager said, in substance, that he wanted his Marseille squad to be a family: “In a family, we fight each other, we back each other and we tell ourselves some truths. But we fight together until death.“

Gattuso got to the point and revealed that everyone would be on the same start line when it comes to the hierarchy within the dressing room. The 45-year-old manager said he didn’t much care what the players did before and asked them only one thing: “be warriors on the pitch.” Marseille centre-back Samuel Gigot previously lamented the lack of fighting spirit and “balls” showed by his teammates during Sunday’s one-sided Classique. Les Phocéens will face AS Monaco this Saturday.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval