Olympique Marseille feels robbed. The French club lost to Atalanta on Wednesday night in the Champions League. Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi felt that his team should have been awarded a penalty just before the winning goal was scored.
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In the Champions League match that ended 0-1 for Atalanta Bergamo, the atmosphere at the Stade Vélodrome turned from tense to chaotic in the final moments.
Marseille had pushed forward relentlessly, trying to secure at least a point, but disaster struck in the last minute of normal time. Lazar Samardzic, who had been one of Atalanta’s most dynamic players throughout the evening, found enough space on the edge of the box to curl a low shot past Gerónimo Rulli. The goal silenced the home crowd and immediately provoked an angry reaction from Marseille’s bench and supporters.
What ignited the controversy was the moment just before the winning goal. Éderson, defending inside Atalanta’s penalty area, had the ball strike his arm while attempting to block a cross. The Marseille players immediately appealed for a penalty, raising their arms and surrounding the referee. VAR reviewed the incident in detail, replaying the touch from several angles, but ultimately decided not to call the referee to the monitor. The decision left the Marseille players fuming and the supporters in disbelief.
After the match, Roberto De Zerbi, who had already been shown a yellow card during stoppage time for protesting, did not hide his outrage during the press conference. The Italian coach appeared visibly frustrated and repeatedly emphasized what he sees as an ongoing pattern of officiating errors that have cost his team crucial points in Europe. He stated that he does not claim to know the rules perfectly, but insisted that similar incidents in other matches had been judged differently. He highlighted the previous defeat to Real Madrid, where Marseille lost 2-1, both goals coming from penalties awarded to the Spanish club. According to De Zerbi, the inconsistency in decisions between matches is unacceptable and leaves his team feeling powerless. He concluded by saying that luck has abandoned Marseille in the Champions League and that the rules seem to change depending on the stadium.
His comments sparked immediate reactions across France. Benoît Payan, the mayor of Marseille, strongly defended the team and condemned the referee’s decision. Speaking angrily to RMC Sport in the mixed zone, he called the incident not a simple mistake but an act of robbery, arguing that such decisions damage the credibility of European football. On his social media accounts, Payan wrote that a refereeing error had stripped the sport of its fairness and had harmed not only Marseille but the integrity of the competition itself.
Marseille sporting director Mehdi Benatia also expressed his frustration. He insisted that the penalty situation was clear and obvious, pointing out that Ederson’s arm was in an unnatural position. Benatia argued that this was not an isolated incident and reminded reporters that Marseille had already suffered from another questionable penalty decision against Real Madrid. He went further, criticizing the referee’s attitude throughout the match, which he described as arrogant and dismissive toward Marseille players and staff.
Amid all the controversy, Gerónimo Rulli’s performance was overshadowed. The Argentine goalkeeper had delivered an impressive display, including a crucial penalty save earlier in the match. Rulli guessed correctly and pushed the ball away, keeping Marseille alive at a crucial moment. Since joining the club in the summer of 2024, Rulli has become one of the most reliable goalkeepers in Europe in terms of penalty saves. He has stopped four penalties across all competitions for Marseille, a statistic matched only by the elite. In the top five European leagues during this period, only Vanja Milinkovic-Savic of Napoli and Nikola Vasilj of St. Pauli have saved more, with six each. Had the final minutes unfolded differently, Rulli might have been hailed as the hero of the night.
Instead, Marseille now finds itself in a difficult position, not only dealing with a painful defeat but also with growing frustration toward refereeing standards in the Champions League. The club, its supporters, and even city officials have rallied behind the team, demanding clearer rules and more consistency from UEFA’s officiating teams. The controversy is likely to continue in the days ahead, as debates over VAR decisions once again dominate European football discussion.
Updated: 12:27, 6 Nov 2025
