Olympique de Marseille beat endangered Lorient 3-0, reclaiming second place in Ligue 1 after comfortably ending a three-game winless run in all competitions, while also extending their unbeaten run in H2Hs against ‘Les Merlus’ to eight games.
Marseille were already without Dimitri Payet and Arkadiusz Milik through injury going into this game, making it especially frustrating for the ‘Olympians’ to see Cédric Bakambu forced off only a quarter-hour into proceedings. They pushed on regardless, and established a significant degree of control, but Matthieu Dreyer made a fantastic save to deny Gerson and keep the scores level. The goalkeeper then made another outstanding save to stop substitute Bamba Dieng’s header, before Jérémy Morel blocked Papa Gueye’s follow-up effort.
The visitors finally got their breakthrough in the 39th minute, when Morel was shrugged aside by Cengiz Ünder, who delivered an inviting cross for Dieng to impressively convert. In response, Julien Laporte had by far Lorient’s best chance of the half seconds before it ended, but he headed wide after being left unmarked from a corner.
Further asserting their dominance, Marseille doubled their lead early in the second half, as Gerson’s flick found Matteo Guendouzi, with the former Lorient midfielder’s shot slipping through Dreyer’s fingers and trickling over the line. There was soon to be slight concern though, as Duje Ćaleta-Car limped off to be replaced by Sead Kolašinac. The visitors wrapped up the points in the 67th minute, when Dieng held the ball up and played a perfectly-weighted pass for Gerson to finish – though the goalscorer and provider both had to be immediately withdrawn with injuries.
With victory, UEFA Champions League chasers Marseille took their away points tally to 39 in the league this term – the best in Ligue 1. It also means they will also be at least three points ahead of Stade Rennais when the two meet in a likely duel for second place, while Lorient remain just three points above the relegation play-off place, keeping one nervous eye on the respective run-ins of Bordeaux and Troyes.
