It was a dramatic weekend of football in France. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Emanuel Emegha played starring roles; so too did the Bastia fans, as the club exited the stage kicking and screaming.

The word “fire” has been used a lot in Marseille this season, because it has been blazing or because Habib Beye has sought to extinguish it. Such talk was purely figurative – until this week. Aubameyang was not on the teamsheet when Marseille travelled to Le Havre hoping to end a run of three games without a win. Their recent slump has not only ensured they will fail to qualify for the Champions League, but it has put them in danger of missing out on European football altogether.

Downturns in form elicit strong reactions from Marseille fans – they boycotted this weekend’s trip to Le Havre – and they increasingly provoked anger from the club’s executives, too. In a previous episode, Roberto De Zerbi took his players to Rome for a training camp. The club’s president at the time, Pablo Longoria, said there was an “illness” within the walls of their training ground that had to be “eradicated”. Hence the need to leave the country.

This season, Beye’s men have lapped up the sun in Marbella but, when that didn’t work, the club’s directors changed tack and opted for a lock-in. The squad was put through a gruelling training camp after they lost to Lorient a fortnight ago, with players made to sleep at the training ground. And when Marseille lost to Nantes last weekend, the extreme measures were implemented again. “We have families, children, wives that we don’t see. We suffered a lot,” said their goalkeeper, Gerónimo Rulli, on Sunday night after their 1-0 win against Le Havre.

Marseille won the match but the performance was not much improved and Le Havre missed a penalty in the second half. The stringent measures are not working, yet Marseille’s management persists in deploying them. It is a mad approach – and one that produced madness from within the squad on the final night of the four-day camp.

Aubameyang reportedly unclipped a fire extinguisher and emptied its contents in the room of Bob Tahri, the former middle-distance runner turned member of the staff who was responsible for enforcing the team curfew. Commanderie fever had set in, with rooms in the training ground trashed.

Aubameyang was not the only guilty party but he paid the price at the weekend. Beye did not directly mention the 36-year-old but did say that “international players had to act like international players” – the suggestion clearly being that such players should not go on infantile rampages in the middle of the night.

That was not the only confrontation in French football this week. Emmanuel Emegha, the Strasbourg forward who will be joining Chelsea at the end of the season, was the pantomime villain during their Europa Conference League match on Thursday night. Emegha is injured and was not even in the squad for the defeat to Rayo Vallecano but he made himself the centre of attention. Despite a lacklustre display, which essentially signalled an early end to Strasbourg’s season, the fans gave the team a warm reception. There was even a twee “thank you” banner unfurled by the Kop.

Cheers turned to jeers, though, when Emegha entered the scene. The Dutchman’s perceived arrogance has soured his relationship with the fans. The announcement of his impending move to Chelsea was untimely, given that he had just been handed the captain’s armband. The rift deepened when he said he had initially thought Strasbourg was in Germany, that he helped put the club on the footballing map, and that poor performances against Ligue 1’s big-hitters could be attributed to his absence.

His demeanour and outfit did not go down well with the crowd on Thursday night. “He stands in front of the Kop wearing sunglasses even though it’s 11pm. You’re the captain of Strasbourg, you don’t turn up like that,” said former France international goalkeeper Mickaël Landreau. Diego Moreira tried to defuse the situation but, when met with Emegha’s reluctance to walk away from the confrontation, he returned to the dressing room. “We know Emanuel’s situation at the club. I just wanted to avoid a larger conflict,” said the left-back. “I just didn’t want to add more problems.”

Strasbourg have plenty of them. Gary O’Neil has stood by his decision to prioritise cup competitions as a means of qualifying for Europe next season. But, having bowed out of the Coupe de France and the Europa Conference League in the semi-finals, the club will not be returning to Europe next season.

There is a big summer ahead. “We have to improve the culture around the club, the quality of the players, and the depth of the squad,” said O’Neil after their 1-1 draw with Angers on Sunday. “We messed up in the January transfer window. We weakened instead of improving the squad.” The Englishman said he was “angry” with his players but not as angry as Bastia were with theirs.

Bastia’s match against Le Mans in Ligue 2 on Saturday night did not reach the final whistle, with firecrackers and flares thrown on to the pitch. At the time of the abandonment, in injury time at the end of the second half, Le Mans were 2-0 up. The result was about to send Le Mans up and Bastia down. The result will be confirmed on Wednesday by the league.

Bastia are one of only seven French clubs to have played in a European final, but their relegation to Ligue 3 will be confirmed soon. It will be the first time since 1965 that no Corsican side has played in the top two divisions of French football. The other giant of the island, Ajaccio, are building back after suffering bankruptcy last year; they have just been promoted to the Régional 1, the sixth tier.

In what was a melodramatic week in French football, filled with jokers and pantomime villains, the decline of Bastia – and Corsican football more generally – is a sporting catastrophe.

Talking points

PSG are serenely – but not spectacularly – on their way to a fifth straight Ligue 1 title. Désiré Doué’s excellent drilled shot from outside the box was the only moment of quality as they beat a resilient Brest side 1-0. PSG still have to play second-placed Lens this week, but the six-point gap, coupled with a significantly better goal difference (+15), means their focus has already turned to the Champions League final against Arsenal. On Sunday, Luis Enrique spoke of “individually preparing” his players for the match at the end of the month. One thing is for sure: PSG will be better rested than Arsenal when they meet in Budapest.

Nantes’ relegation was confirmed after their 1-0 defeat to Lens, but the relegation playoff spot is all to play for going into the final day. Auxerre beat Nice on Sunday to go above them in the table on goal difference. On the final day, Nice face Metz, who have already been relegated, while Auxerre travel to Lille. Nerves will be jangling at Ineos, who are hoping to sell the club this summer. Relegation, just one year after qualifying for the Champions League, would slash the club’s value.

This is an article by Get French Football News