Marseille drops Gignac after coach row

Andre-Pierre Gignac has been dropped from Marseille's squad to face Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday after an angry row with coach Didier Deschamps, the club announced on Thursday.Having been brought on as a second-half substitute in Marseille's 1-0 loss at home to Olympiakos in the Champions League on Wednesday, Gignac was reportedly angry with Deschamps for not giving him enough playing time.The two men had a heated exchange during a training session on Thursday morning, after which Gignac refused to speak to Deschamps.The argument then escalated in the changing room in the presence of Gignac's team-mates, according to a report on the website of the L'Equipe sport daily.Gignac was subsequently removed from the squad to face Marseille's arch rivals PSG and made to train with the reserves."Due to the inappropriate reaction of Andre-Pierre Gignac towards Didier Deschamps during the announcement of the team before the OM-Olympiakos Champions League match, the Olympique de Marseille management have decided to leave the striker at the disposal of the reserve team until next Tuesday," read a statement published on the club's website on Thursday evening.After missing the start of the current campaign due to injury, Gignac did not make his first start of the season until the League Cup win at home to Lens on October 25.However, the former Toulouse striker has fallen behind both Loic Remy and Jordan Ayew in the OM striking hierarchy and does not appear to feature prominently in Deschamps' plans for the rest of the season.Gignac came close to joining English side Fulham during the summer transfer window and could now be placed on the transfer list with a view to a departure in the January transfer window.Marseille could have reached the Champions League last 16 by drawing with Olympiakos but must instead win at German champions Borussia Dortmund in their final group game next month to be sure of going through.The 2010 French champions were beaten 1-0 by Montpellier in their last Ligue 1 outing and go into Sunday's 'Clasico' with league leaders PSG in 10th place in the table.

Source: AFP