In numerical superiority, but better than their opponent from the start, Olympique de Marseille won a precious success on the ground of Sporting Portugal (2-0), this Wednesday, during the 4th day of the Champions League. Second in their group, OM are reviving perfectly in the race to qualify for the round of 16!
The joy of Sanchez after his goal (0-2, 30th)
Olympique de Marseille can recover from dreaming of the knockout stages of the Champions League! A week after their victory against Sporting (4-1), the first of the season in C1, OM did it again in Portugal (2-0), this Wednesday, during the 4th day of the group stage.
Two days from the end, Marseille climbed to 2nd place in Group D, one point behind Tottenham and the same number as Sporting. The Marseillais will now try to take a big step towards qualification in two weeks against Eintracht Frankfurt. After tonight’s good performance, it seemed quite playable for the current 3rd in Ligue 1!
An ideal start for OM
The evening started very well for Marseille. Like the first leg, the Marseille club found itself very quickly in numerical superiority after the expulsion of Esgaio. First warned for an elbow on Tavares, Sporting’s right piston did it again three minutes later by committing a foul on Harit who gave OM a penalty. The Marseillais did not ask for so much and Guendouzi took care of giving the advantage to his team (0-1, 20th)!
This goal rewarded the good start to the match by Igor Tudor’s team, who would drive home the point ten minutes later. Served by Harit, definitely in all the right moves, Sanchez doubled the lead for the Marseille club (0-2, 30th)! An ideal scenario for the Olympians, very little worried by the locals during the first 45 minutes. Lopez had only had to work on a harmless shot from Trincao.
A second red card for Sporting
The second period was relatively quiet for OM. Reduced to nine per hour of play after the expulsion of Gonalves, the Portuguese did not manage to revive in this part. For their part, the Marseillais turned the ball around and got a few chances on attempts from Rongier and Harit, while Marsa then came very close to scoring against his side by clearing the ball on his post. Marseille manages an end to the match without fear, preserving the bodies before facing Paris Saint-Germain in the league next Sunday.
The score of the match: 6/10
A one-sided game. With Esgaio sent off early in the game, there was quickly only one team on the pitch. OM took advantage of this to liven up the game with two goals and several chances. The pace fell seriously after Sporting’s second red card.
The goals :
– Guendouzi takes his penalty from the right on the right of Israel. The Sporting goalkeeper starts from the right side but the ball hits the post before crossing the line (0-1, 20th).
– Launched into the area on the right side by Mbemba, Harit crosses low in front of the goal for Sanchez, who pushes the ball into the goal with his right foot (0-2, 30′).
Players’ NOTES
Maxifoot has assigned a score (out of 10) comments on each player.
Man of the match: Amine Harit (8/10)
In all the good moves, the OM attacking midfielder has confirmed his good form! Untenable and confident with the ball, he struggled to make a difference for more than an hour. With success, since he obtains the penalty then offers the second Marseille goal Sanchez. Replace the 72nd by Dimitri Payet (not not).
SPORTING LISBON :
Franco Israel (4.5): a frustrating evening for the goalkeeper. From his first interventions, he did not offer great serenity to his defenders. However, he could not do much on the two goals conceded, and started on the right side on the penalty scored by Guendouzi.
Gonalo Incio (3): present in the duel but rather imprecise in the recovery, the central defender is mainly at fault on OM’s second goal since he covers Harit on his misalignment.
Sebastin Coates (not rated): the captain only stayed on the pitch for half an hour before leaving with an injury. Replace the 34th by Jos Martnez Mars (5)which made a correct entry.
Matheus Reis (4): the defender has sometimes shown over-commitment and has not particularly shone defensively. We will mainly retain its interesting quality of recovery.
Ricardo Esgaio (not noted): a nightmarish evening… Warned for an elbow in the face of Tavares, the right piston is expelled into the crowd, in the 19th minute, by committing the fault which allows OM to score on penalty.
Manuel Ugarte (4): a complicated match for the young nugget. The Uruguayan midfielder was unable to respond to the challenge proposed by the Marseillais: he was dominated in the duels (7 out of 19 won) and he lost many balls (11).
Hidemasa Morita (not rated): after a complicated start, the Japanese had to quickly give up his place following the tactical reorganization operated by his coach after Esgaio’s red card. Replace the 22nd by Issahaku Abdul Fatawu (5)author of an interesting entry in his hallway.
Nuno Santos (4): the left piston embarrassed OM with his races in depth, without managing to bring danger into the zone of truth. Replace the 59th by Pedro Porro (not).
Francisco Trinco (3.5): stirring but not very dangerous, except on a long shot, he came out at the break. Replace the 46th by Flvio Nazinho (3)who was content to defend.
Marcus Edwards (not rated): deprived of balls, the striker did not have the opportunity to shine before going out for tactical reasons. Replace the 35th by Sotirios-Polykarpos Alexandropoulos (4)which did not really weigh in the debates.
Pedro Goncalves (2): an evening to forget. Mang in the duels (1 won out of 11), the Portuguese winger left his partners nine by receiving a yellow card for a foul on Balerdi then a second for words from the referee in the crowd. A fairly silly red card…
MARSEILLES :
Pau Lpez (6): the goalkeeper spent a very quiet evening. The Spaniard only had two saves, without too much difficulty, and was rather calm in the recovery.
Chancel Mbemba (7): as often since his arrival this summer, the defender made a good copy. Intractable defensively, the Congolese was vigilant to respond to runs in depth from Nuno Santos. Valuable also offensively since his pass to Harit brings the second goal.
Eric Bailly (6.5): the central defender had a solid game. Excellent in duels, the former Mancunian left only crumbs for opposing attackers. Replace the 64th by Samuel Gigot (not not).
Leonardo Balerdi (7): a good match for the Argentinian. On the left of the defense three, the Marseille defender won almost all of his duels, on the ground and in the air. He was not put in difficulty this evening.
Jonathan Clauss (5.5): a correct match for the right piston. Back from injury, the former Lensois did not give the impression of being 100% physically, but he was little put into difficulty defensively and one of his outbursts could have allowed Harit to score in the second period. Replace the 64th by Issa Kabor (not).
Valentin Rongier (7.5): the captain of OM confirms his status as essential in the midfield. On recovery, he multiplied the interventions and had a fairly impressive volume of play to bother the Sporting players. His technical touch also did good in the midfield and his pass to Harit led to the penalty which allowed OM to open the scoring.
Jordan Veretout (6): good defensively and less good in the game for the former AS Roma player. The midfielder recovered many balls and fought (7 duels won out of 9), but some of his ball losses in the first period could have been dangerous.
Nuno Tavares (5): a mixed evening for the left piston. He showed himself available by multiplying the races in his lane, but he lost most of his duels (9 won out of 22) and multiplied the technical inaccuracies, despite the best in the second period. Whistle for his Benfica player pass, he sometimes got out of his game a bit by trying to chamber his opponents.
Matto Guendouzi (7): the middle was there. Despite a yellow card collected very early, he did not get out of his match. In addition to his goal from the penalty spot which gave OM the advantage, the French international was again invaluable in the game. Positioned a notch lower than Harit, he made himself available to serve as a relay for his partners and close the pass lines. Replace the 64th by Cengiz nder (not not).
Amine Harit (8): read the comment above.
Alexis Snchez (7.5): recruited to allow OM to pass a level in the Champions League, the striker does the job perfectly. Annoying for the defense thanks to his pressing, his placement and his ball retention, the Chilean had a rather impressive activity. He was rewarded for his efforts by scoring OM’s second goal.
+ Find the results and the Champions League ranking on Maxifoot
And for you, who were the best and worst players of the match? Comment in the “comments” box below!
SPORTING LISBON 0-2 MARSEILLE (mid-time: 0-2) – CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – 1st round, grp D / 4th day
Stadium: Jos Alvalade, Lisbon – Referee: Alejandro Hernandez, Spain
Goals : – M. Guendouzi (20th, pen.) A. Snchez (30th) for MARSEILLE
Warnings :
SPORTING LISBON :
MARSEILLES :
Harit gets a penalty…
… Guendouzi takes care of shooting it to open the scoring (0-1, 20th)
Sanchez made the break for OM (0-2, 30th)
