Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi was again angry at the officials after his team’s 1-1 draw with Strasbourg on Sunday.
The French giants continued to lose ground in the title race, falling to nine points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain, who are yet to lose a game this season.
De Zerbi knows his side cannot afford to drop any more points if they are to have any chance of facing Luis Enrique’s side and he couldn’t help but express his frustration after the game.
He said: “Since I’ve been in France I’ve seen things that I don’t always understand, and that doesn’t just concern OM. Maybe because I’m Italian… I came to OM because it’s the biggest French club.
“I respect everyone, but the media should also take a stand sometimes.
“Have you seen the stats for this game? Yes, we deserved to win, we are ahead in many areas, we have three to four times more expected goals than Strasbourg.
“That should have been enough to win, but like on Tuesday against Lillewe didn’t get what we deserved. I see teams winning games by doing a lot less good things than we do.”
De Zerbi’s Marseille have faced a number of poor refereeing decisions this season, which has resulted in them losing ground in the title race.
Much like Jose Mourinho in Turkey, the former Brighton manager is angry that there is no wider uproar over the standard of officiating.
But De Zerbi admitted in the end that they must not make excuses and his players must learn to finish games.
He added: “It’s a shame it’s happening at such an important time of the season. We still have seven injured players, those who played well but there was fatigue. Neal, a player I love, has played the last three games in a row.
“Greenwood is not used to playing so many games in a row. Cornelius didn’t play in his usual position because Lirola didn’t feel like playing 90 minutes. Murillo, Kondogbia, Rongier, Wahi, Harit, that’s a lot. We have to deal with it and not use it as an excuse.”
