Shakhtar's rival is led by a 70-year-old coach with no titles, who was dismissed in disgrace by the winner of the African Cup of Nations

Jean-Louis Gasset, an experienced 70-year-old specialist, has been appointed as the new head coach of French side Marseille, leading the team in the Europa League return leg against Shakhtar Donetsk. The Montpellier native replaced Gennaro Gattuso in this position.

This is reported by the official website of Marseille. Gasse has not won a single title in his career and was also dismissed in disgrace from the Ivory Coast national team during the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations.

The new Provence coach began his coaching career back in 1985. Since then, he has changed nine teams, where he mostly worked as an assistant. He was Laurent Blanc's assistant in the French national team at Euro 2012.

From 2017 to 2021, he coached Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux, and in May-2022 he took over the Ivory Coast national team. "The Elephants were the hosts of the recent African Championship. Having started with a victory over Guinea-Bissau, Gasse's wards then lost to the Nigerians (0: 1) and suffered a fiasco in a match against Equatorial Guinea (0: 4).

The leadership of the national federation dismissed the Frenchman, despite the team's third-place finish in the group. Emers Faye, who replaced Gassé, led the Ivorians to the tournament gold medal.

Gascoigne will make his debut as Marseille coach in the match against Shakhtar, which will take place at the Velodrome Stadium on Thursday, February 22. In the first match, the Ukrainians and the French parted ways with a 2-2 draw.