# 2008–09 Olympique de Marseille season

During the 2008–09 French football season, Olympique de Marseille competed in Ligue 1.

## Season summary

Marseille finished 3 points behind league champions Bordeaux. Manager Eric Gerets left after his contract expired at the end of the season. Replacing him was former Marseille player Didier Deschamps.

## First-team squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | FRA | Rudy Riou |
| 2 | DF | ARG | Renato Civelli |
| 3 | DF | NGA | Taye Taiwo |
| 4 | DF | FRA | Julien Rodriguez |
| 5 | DF | BRA | Hilton |
| 6 | MF | ALG | Karim Ziani |
| 7 | MF | FRA | Benoît Cheyrou |
| 8 | DF | ENG | Tyrone Mears (on loan from Derby County) |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Brandão |
| 10 | MF | NED | Boudewijn Zenden |
| 11 | FW | SEN | Mamadou Niang |
| 12 | MF | BFA | Charles Kaboré |
| 14 | MF | CIV | Bakari Koné |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 15 | DF | GLP | Ronald Zubar |
| 16 | GK | FRA | Hilaire Muñoz |
| 17 | FW | MLI | Mamadou Samassa |
| 19 | MF | ALB | Lorik Cana |
| 20 | MF | FRA | Hatem Ben Arfa |
| 22 | MF | FRA | Sylvain Wiltord |
| 23 | MF | CMR | Modeste M'bami |
| 24 | DF | FRA | Laurent Bonnart |
| 26 | MF | FRA | Mohamed Amine Dennoun |
| 28 | MF | FRA | Mathieu Valbuena |
| 30 | GK | FRA | Steve Mandanda |
| 31 | FW | FRA | Guy Gnabouyou |
| 40 | GK | UKR | Dmytro Nepohodov |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 8 | FW | GHA | André Ayew (on loan to Lorient) |
| 9 | FW | FRA | Djibril Cissé (on loan to Sunderland) |
| 13 | DF | SEN | Leyti N'Diaye (on loan to AC Ajaccio) |
| 17 | MF | ALG | Salim Arrache (on loan to Stade de Reims) |
| 18 | MF | FRA | Elliot Grandin (on loan to GF38) |
| 21 | MF | SRB | Miloš Krstić (on loan to AC Ajaccio) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 22 | DF | MAR | Amin Erbati (to Al Wahda) |
| 25 | DF | SVN | Boštjan Cesar (to AC Ajaccio) |
| 27 | DF | SEN | Pape M'Bow (on loan to Cannes) |
| 29 | DF | FRA | Fabrice Begeorgi (on loan to SV Werder Bremen II) |
| 32 | DF | FRA | Gaël Givet (on loan to Blackburn Rovers) |

## Competitions
### Ligue 1
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Bordeaux (C) | 38 | 24 | 8 | 6 | 64 | 34 | +30 | 80 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Marseille | 38 | 22 | 11 | 5 | 67 | 35 | +32 | 77 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Lyon | 38 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 52 | 29 | +23 | 71 | Qualification to Champions League play-off round |
| 4 | Toulouse | 38 | 16 | 16 | 6 | 45 | 27 | +18 | 64 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 5 | Lille | 38 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 51 | 39 | +12 | 64 | Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: LFP.fr

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | D | W | W | W | D | D | D | W | W | L | D | W | W | L | D | D | W | D | L | W | W | L | W | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | L | W | W |
| Position | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |

#### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss
Source:

### Champions League
#### Third qualifying round
#### Group C

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 14 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 2 | Atlético Madrid | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 12 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 3 | Marseille | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 4 | Transfer to UEFA Cup |
| 4 | PSV Eindhoven | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 14 | −9 | 3 | |