Marseille fans set off fireworks outside of Tottenham hotel ahead of Champions League match

I mentioned this briefly in the Hoddle this morning, but it probably bears repeating: it is with a heavy heart that I inform you that the Marseille Ultras are at it again. According to several outlets, Marseille fans set off fireworks outside of Tottenham’s team hotel in France ahead of today’s critical Champions League group stage match at the Stade Velodrome.

There were apparently fireworks at 1:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. this morning. And we’re not just talking M80s and noisemakers — we’re talking a full spread of visual rockets. Spurs reported to UEFA that the disruptions were “very prolonged.” I’m sure it was pretty if it wasn’t set off by some of the worst football fans on earth.

Here’s some video of one of the incidents as broadcast by Sky Sports News.

[Extremely John Oliver voice] Cool.

Marseille fans know how important this match is for Tottenham, as it’s also equally important for their Champions League qualification hopes. I’m not going to make too big a deal out of this as this is pretty par for the course — this kind of thing happens a lot ahead of major football matches so we shouldn’t be surprised that it’s happening here. Also I have full confidence that players are aware that this can happen and take steps to mitigate sound disruption when they’re staying abroad, especially on the continent in European competition. And naps are a thing. Ajax supporters did something similar ahead of the Miracle in Amsterdam match back in 2019 and we all know how THAT turned out.

It’s also worth noting that Marseille is still under sanction from UEFA for fan unrest that took place earlier in the Champions League: they played behind closed doors in their last home CL match and will have a 13k stand closed for this one as well. That’s unlikely to make much of a dent in what is almost always a raucous and hostile atmosphere at the Stade Velodrome.

But still! Stay classy, Marseille. I expect to see flares. And if you’re reading this and are planning to attend the match today in person, please be careful.