Andre Villas Boas says he'll quit Marseille without 'proper' support

Marseille coach Andre Villas Boas said he will quit the club if he is not given the means to make them competitive in the Champions League.

Marseille claimed a Champions League spot for the first time in seven years when they finished second in Ligue 1 as the season was ended with 10 games left amid the Covid-19 crisis.

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But that is not enough for the Portuguese, whose contract expires at the end of the 2020-21 season.

"I don't want to just make up the numbers in the Champions League. It we're just here to make up the numbers, it's obviously no (to stay at the club)," he told French radio RMC.

Villas Boas, the former manager of Chelsea and Tottenham, said he wanted to stay but that important structural conditions had to be met.

"The most important is whether the people who are with me, (sports director) Andoni (Zubizarreta) and (scouting director) Albert (Valentin) still have power or no.

"We must have, and we want to have, the power to execute decisions.

"I feel good in Marseille. When my agent calls me with Premier League proposals, I don't want to go back. I am happy here. But if the conditions for us to do a proper job are not met, it's not worth it."

Keeping hold of key players was another crucial factor, he added.

"I want to know where we're going, what we can do, how much we can invest," he said.

"We don't have a big squad. We must think about the players whose contracts expire in 2021," he added, referring to goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, midfielders Florian Thauvin and Maxime Lopez, defender Jordan Amavi and forward Valere Germain.

Marseille fell foul of UEFA's financial fair-play rules last year and in March the club was at risk of sanctions after failing to comply with a settlement.

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What is Diwali?

The Hindu festival is at once a celebration of the autumn harvest and the triumph of good over evil, as outlined in the Ramayana.

According to the Sanskrit epic, penned by the sage Valmiki, Diwali marks the time that the exiled king Rama – a mortal with superhuman powers – returned home to the city of Ayodhya with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, after vanquishing the 10-headed demon Ravana and conquering his kingdom of Lanka. The people of Ayodhya are believed to have lit thousands of earthen lamps to illuminate the city and to guide the royal family home.

In its current iteration, Diwali is celebrated with a puja to welcome the goodness of prosperity Lakshmi (an incarnation of Sita) into the home, which is decorated with diyas (oil lamps) or fairy lights and rangoli designs with coloured powder. Fireworks light up the sky in some parts of the word, and sweetmeats are made (or bought) by most households. It is customary to get new clothes stitched, and visit friends and family to exchange gifts and greetings.