Ligue 1: Villas-Boas relishing 'great challenge' at Marseille

Returning to coaching after 18 months away, Andre Villas-Boas is looking to restore Marseille to the top three in Ligue 1.

Villas-Boas believes the lack of midweek commitments could work in his favour as he looks to get Marseille back into the top three.

Andre Villas-Boas is looking forward to the "great challenge" of returning Marseille to the Champions League after taking over as head coach.

Marseille endured a disappointing 2018-19 season under Rudi Garcia, finishing fifth in Ligue 1 and missing out on European qualification.

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However, Villas-Boas, who was appointed on Tuesday, believes the lack of midweek commitments could work in his favour as he looks to get Marseille back into the top three.

"Coming to a club the size of Marseille is fantastic for me," he said. "This is a great challenge for me and we will do everything to fulfil our objectives.

"We must finish in the top three in Ligue 1, especially as we are not playing in Europe. This will give us the time to prepare the matches and have our top players in the league."

He added, "I need time to see what we can do with what we have. We will do the best we can with our budget to achieve our objectives - these objectives are clear.

"At all of the clubs I have worked for, I've always said I will not shirk my responsibilities. I never will. They have been clear with me and that's important."

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Villas-Boas has been out of work since leaving Shanghai SIPG in 2017, but is confident he is still moving his career in the right direction.

"I'm very happy with my football career," he said. "As soon as I spoke with the club, we shared ideas and we had a very clear conversation.

"We didn't need to talk about projects or provide a presentation of who I am and where I'm from. We just talked about football - about Argentina, Mexico, Germany, France, England, all of these countries that have been important for me.

"I'm still the same person I was at Porto, looking for the ideal club so that I can continue to push my career forward. I have always been very clear on this point.

"I do have a vision for my career but I'm very happy with it and what I've done so far.

"I'm very happy to be able to build my career here and what's important is the people that surround me. I think we have a good set of players."