OM return to victory by beating OL

The game: 1-0

After four matches without winning in the Championship (three defeats, one draw), Olympique de Marseille returned to success this Sunday evening by dominating OL (1-0) at the end of the 14th day of Ligue 1, at the end of a match where the Marseillais suffered, especially in the second half.

Igor Tudor may have made an act of contrition by acknowledging that he should have brought Dimitri Payet into the Champions League last Tuesday against Tottenham (1-2), the OM coach did leave the Reunionese on the bench, this Sunday, at the start of the clash of the 14th day of Ligue 1 against OL. Payet was a substitute like Gerson and Mattéo Guendouzi who has shown signs of fatigue recently. On the OL side, Laurent Blanc had opted for a 4-4-2, giving Johann Lepenant his first tenure in a month.

To erase the painful memory of its elimination in the European Cup, OM seemed determined to be very offensive during this first period. The first big chance came from Nuno Tavares who launched Amine Harit. Alexis Sanchez was overtaken by Nicolas Tagliafico to take over the center of the Moroccan international (13th).

The Argentinian defender, omnipresent in this first period, then hampered Jonathan Clauss who was about to take back a cross from Nuno Tavares (20th) just before hampering Sanchez again who did not fit his recovery following a corner from Cengiz Under (21st). Tudor’s men logically opened the scoring following a corner from Jordan Veretout headed by Samuel Gigot (43rd).

For their part, OL struggled to be dangerous. During the first forty-five minutes, there was only the blocked shot from Alexandre Lacazette captured without too much difficulty by Pau Lopez (25th) and the free kick from Caqueret, slammed by the OM goalkeeper (45th + 2).

At the break, as against Lille, Blanc attempted a tactical change: Houssem Aouar was replaced by Jeff Reine-Adélaïde, Karl Toko Ekambi entered in place of Moussa Dembélé. The Lyonnais went to 4-3-3. They then showed themselves to be more enterprising offensively, with this strike from Toko Ekambi repelled by Pau Lopez or that of Reine-Adélaïde, captured by the Marseille goalkeeper (76th).

The Phocaeans, who put less intensity in the second half, reacted at the end of the match. On an action where Payet found Clauss with a heel before a cross for Sanchez who did not frame his head (87th), a minute later, Mattéo Guendouzi lost his duel against Anthony Lopes (88th). The Lyonnais, they pushed to the end and Lacazette (89th), Cherki (90th +2) and Tagliafico (90th +5) made the Vélodrome shiver before the final whistle.

With this victory, OM carried out a good operation by coming back to within one point of Rennes and of the podium and settling in 4th place ahead of Monaco and Lorient. Lyon remains stuck in 8th place, seven points behind their evening opponent.

Scorer for the first time this season against Lille (2-1), Samuel Gigot allowed his team to win on the 7th day. This Sunday, the defender was once again decisive by heading a corner from Veretout (43rd) to score the only goal of the game. Gigot is thus the author of 2 of Marseille’s last 4 goals at home in Ligue 1. Hit in the head during a shock with this same Veretout, Gigot had to leave the field at the hour mark and give up his place in Kolasinac, too stunned to continue on the lawn.