Marseille captain to miss Strasbourg fixture through suspension

Olympique de Marseille will be without their captain this weekend when they face RC Strasbourg Alsace at Stade de la Meinau on Sunday.

Leonardo Balerdi (25) received two yellow cards in the opening five minutes of their match against Olympique Lyonnais last weekend.

L’Équipe reported on Wednesday that Les Olympiens requested that the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) consider chalking off Balerdi’s second yellow card for a challenge on Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette (33).

On Wednesday night, though, the LFP upheld their decision to suspend the Argentine for this weekend’s fixture.

Despite being reduced to 10 men so early on, Roberto De Zerbi’s men still managed to claim a 3-2 victory over Lyon.

In doing so, they became the first team in this competition since Opta began collecting that data (1992-93) to win a match in the French top flight after receiving a red card in the opening five minutes of a game.

Marseille head into their meeting with Strasbourg this weekend in a three-way tie with AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain for first in Ligue 1 on 13 points.

Les Phocéens have a 100% away record in Ligue 1 this season, with 11 of their 15 goals domestically coming away from the Stade Vélodrome.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre