Marseille boasts a rich tradition of skilful players, but can the current trio of Mathieu Valbuena, Dimitri Payet and Andre-Pierre Gignac match the precision of the club's greats? bwin's Skills Series challenge headed to the south of France to find out...
Monday 23 December 2013 11:29, UK
Marseille's top stars have their skills put to the test in a series of tough challenges.
The bwin Skills Series encompasses a unique set of challenges which takes some of Europe's top footballing talent outside of their comfort zones and gives them the opportunity to show off extraordinary athletic and technical abilities previously unseen by fans. Last week, we saw four Bayern Munich players impress on the basketball court - and now we're off to check out Ligue 1 giants Marseille. bwin wanted to see if the current crop of l'OM stars possess the same impressive skills so many Marseille legends have shown over the years. The French club has never been short of impressive footballing talent, with the likes of Chris Waddle, Robert Pires and Jean-Pierre Papin - to name just a few - all having worn the famous kit of white and blue. It was striker Gignac, winger Payet and playmaker Valbuena who were called upon to prove that the current squad's skills can match that of past Marseille masters. The challenges are... 1. After warming up with goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, Valbuena has to display immaculate technique in order to control and pass balls within a restricted space. 2. Payet is asked to dribble through a labyrinthine maze - whilst his team-mates attempt to put him off with some well-placed passes. 3. Gignac is required to show the type of clinical finishing that would make the legendary Papin proud - but is the service coming from his team-mates good enough for him to be able to fire two shots into small hooped targets?
