Spain has, of course, its Clasico that is widely anticipated among legions of La Liga fans. But for Ligue 1 followers, there is Le Classique, in which PSG faces off against Marseille in what is usually a spicy match between two of France's top sides. This time around, it's Les Parisiens who are playing catch-up as an indifferent start sees them four points behind Les Olympiens, despite still being one of a few sides left in Europe yet to suffer a league defeat.
Marseille have had an interesting start to this season. Marcelo Bielsa's troops began the season with a draw and then a loss before stringing together an impressive run of eight matches, outscoring their opponents 21 to 3 in the process before being halted by Lyon. They did bounce back by defeating Lens in their most recent fixture but will definitely be pushing to earn a win against their bitter rivals.
Of concern, of course, for both sides is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swedish superstar has been out of action since September due to injuries and was unable to feature in numerous league and continental matches for his side. His absence has been greatly felt by his teammates, despite the emergence of players like Lucas Moura and Javier Pastore and Edinson Cavani both seeming to finally have hit their strides.
It will be interesting to see if Laurent Blanc opts to give him a run-out as the 33-year-old has returned to full training, and given his quality, Marseille will still have to pay close attention to him, as Bielsa noted:
"We will try to make [it hard] for Ibrahimovic [to] influence the game," he stated in his pre-match press conference.
"[So naturally] we will try to follow him everywhere [on the pitch], but he tends to move mostly in the center. [In any case] we willl [also] take risks in order to develop our game and to win in Paris."
Andre-Pierre Gignac, who has 10 goals so far and is five clear of last season's top scorer Ibrahimovic, will certainly love to net against his team's arch rivals and put more distance between him and the talismanic attacker in the race for Ligue 1's top scorer.
All in all, given the history between these two sides, fans of both teams as well as general Ligue 1 supporters will be all tuned in to what should be an entertaining match.
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