Goals: Guessand (7e), For (51e)
The false suspense will not even have lasted 24 hours. PSG’s draw against Reims opened a very small gap in the race for the French champion title on Saturday. OM, however, extinguished the hopes of the most extreme optimists by losing their teeth to their neighbor Nice (2-0). Roberto De Zerbi’s men, although so often brilliant away from home, were unable to break the lock on the Allianz Arena, where the Gym is still undefeated in the league (six wins, three draws). Worse, they were dominated in intensity and commitment by Aiglons determined to restore their image.
Guess who ?
Franck Haise’s eleven seemed much more convincing on paper than the one which had miserably wallowed (once again) against Elfsborg on Thursday. The first minutes confirmed it. Conquerors, the Aiglons put the opposing defense under pressure and forced Quentin Merlin to make a last-minute comeback in front of Evann Guessand (3e). The Olympian rearguard did not last long: Guessand’s pressure on Lilian Brassier, in great difficulty, bore fruit and the Nice striker won his face-to-face by stinging the ball just above by Geronimo Rulli (1-0, 7e). A ninth goal in the league, already, which places him just behind Mason Greenwood (12), Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembélé and Jonathan David (11). On a defensive edge, OM were able to count on their captain Leonardo Balerdi to cut Ali Abdi’s cross while Mohamed-Ali Cho already saw himself putting the ball in the back (23e), and on Rulli to oppose Jonathan Clauss (43e). Gaëtan Laborde even took the liberty of attempting a return, inspired but not on target (36e).
Marseille did not know how to respond in the engagement (60% of duels won by Nice), and could not count on an individual exploit to get their heads above water. Mason Greenwood (15e) and Adrien Rabiot (18e) were on target, but without worrying Marcin Bulka. No more success in the set phases, despite a succession of three corners which did more harm to Balerdi’s arcade, bleeding, than to the Riviera defense. Bulka’s gloves ended up warming up in front of Quentin Merlin and Valentin Rongier (40e), but it was the side’s poor choice that stood out the most as Greenwood claimed the ball in an ideal position.
Cho ahead!
Specialist in comebacks (10 points scraped by having conceded the opener this season), OM complicated their task by failing again, this time on a textbook action: Guessand’s pass in the interval arrived at Cho’s destination and number 25 hit the target with a terribly effective cross shot (2-0, 51e). Bulka preserved this precious advantage by stopping Rabiot’s recovery on his line (55e), just to accentuate the doubt in the minds of Marseille. Once is not customary, no lightning came from Greenwood to get out of the quagmire. The Englishman managed to get into a striking position on his left foot, but sent the ball over (59e) or was countered (69e). The changes made by Roberto De Zerbi did not really upset the balance of power, and it even took the firm hand of Geronimo Rulli to avoid the debacle in the face of the poison Guessand (74e). Despite the efforts of Balerdi, one of the few to give satisfaction, on his 26e anniversary, OM are now ten points behind PSG. In the retro, on the other hand, the threat is getting closer since Monaco is back to three lengths, and Nice to four. Just what was needed to spice up next Sunday’s Olympico…
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“Let the rat hunt begin”: the bad taste banner of the Nice ultras
