Our prediction for this Coupe de la Ligue match:
Olympique Marseille
Match Time & Date:
19/12/2018
03:05 PM
Prediction: 2-0
Strasbourg
A place in the quarter-finals of the French Coupe de la Ligue will be at stake when Olympique Marseille and Strasbourg face each other at Orange Velodrome in what is expected to be one of the most entertaining games of Wednesday’s program. Olympique Marseille have slim chances of winning the Ligue 1 title and, no doubt, they are going to give 100% in order to win the French League Cup. OM produce much better displays at home than on the travels and seeing that Strasbourg are not regarded as good travelers, we predict that Rudi Garcia’s men are going to give fans some cheer this time out. A man to watch in the home team will be pacey winger Florian Thauvin, who is likely to pose a big threat for the opposition defenders. You should bear in mind that Olympique recorded a 3-2 win over Strasbourg in their last meeting in Marseille.
Highlighted Player (Hiroki Sakai):
Hiroki Sakai is a product of Kashiwa Reysol football academy and, as expected, he made his first-team debut with the Hitachi Kashiwa Soccer Stadium outfit. Sakai played his first ever match for Kashiwa against Kofu (1-1) on May 5, 2010 and during the 2011 season he established himself as a first-team regular.
The pacey right back made 27 appearances for Kashiva in the 2011 season and he remained at the club until the summer of 2012. Hiroki Sakai then played for Hannover (2012-2016) and he scored two goals in 92 appearances in the league for the Bundesliga club. In 2016 he joined Marseille and he played regularly for OM in the 2016/2017 Ligue 1 campaign (35 appearances).
Sakai was born in Kashiva on April 12, 1990 and 22 years later he made his senior debut for Japan, playing 45 minutes in a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan. It has to be noted that the Marseille footballer has 17 caps for Japan U23 team as well.
Highlighted Team (Strasbourg):
Founded back in 1906, Strasbourg is a professional football team that compete in French Ligue 1. Le Racing did remarkably well to win the 1979 Ligue 1 trophy and that is considered the biggest success in the history of the club. Strasbourg won Coupe de France on three occasions (1951, 1966, 2001) and they have three Coupe de la Ligue trophies as well (1964, 1997, 2005). Strasbourg’s main rivals are Metz and the two teams face each other in the Derby de l’Est (The Eastern derby).
Le Racing recorded their biggest victory over Valenciennes (10-0) in the 1937-1938 season, whilst they suffered their biggest loss to Limoges (0-8) in the 1959/1960 season. Paraguayan goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert, who is well known for his free-kick abilities, played for the club from 2000 to 2003, but he failed to score in a league match during his spell with the Stade de la Meinau outfit. Speaking of Stade de la Meinau, Strasbourg’s home ground was opened back in 1914 and the capacity of the venue is 29,320.
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