In his first season with OM, Fabrice Abriel won two titles. On the eve of his second season his ambition and motivation are intact.
Last year at the same time, Fabrice Abriel had not yet arrived at Olympique de Marseille. It was in fact at the end of the month of July that the midfielder from La Réunion joined OM with the ambition of working hard and winning titles without demanding anything in return. One year later and the work has paid off. Fabrice Abriel is champion of France and Coupe de la Ligue holder. The vacation, split up between Paris and his island in the Indian Ocean were more than deserved.
At the training camp in Brittany, the holidays are a distant memory. “We are building up the workload, we started off gently and are gradually increasing the intensity. Everything is going well. The fitness work is necessary, intense but necessary. We had a long break and need to get our bodies used to working again. We need to get the collective working, so have to get to know the new players as soon as we can. I hadn’t arrived at this point last season so am discovering how everything works”.
Used to the Christian Gourcuff method after his three seasons at Lorient, Fabrice Abriel is not scared of tough physical work. On the contrary “I’m generally in the top 6 each time, but there is no competition. The results are individual and this work allows us to constitute groups of 5 or 6 players”. He also knows the region well and especially Port-Crouesty after having trained here with Lorient.
It is also the heritage of his time at Lorient which allowed him to play as many matches last season. Adaptable, in perpetual movement, offering solutions to his team-mates, Fabrice Abriel played 32 Ligue 1 matches (including 18 starts) and 9 in Europe. Scoring two goals last year (one in the L1 and the other in the Champions League), he remains humble when speaking about his personal objectives. “I’d like to be more decisive than I was last season and bring more on the pitch over the course of the season”.
Collectively, however, he is always aiming higher. “We have to stay in the top two as it is vital for the club to remain in the Champions League. Last year we failed in the Champions League by not getting past the group stage. We’d like to qualify for the last 16, but we will have to see which team’s we are drawn against. We must keep on winning because a club like Marseille has a duty to be victorious”.
