Marseille, second in Ligue 1, lost at home to Lyon
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Marseille were swept away by Lyon at home on Sunday (3-0). OL retain a small chance of qualifying for the Champions League and complicates life for OM, who still remain second.
As in the first leg, Lyon beat Marseille on Sunday May 1 in the duel of the Olympiques (3-0) and thus retained a small chance of European qualification, while simply complicating the life of OM and their hopes of accession to the Champions League.
OM are still second and remain in the best position to support Paris SG in C1. But the Marseillais saw that Rennes (3rd) and Monaco (4th) had won this weekend and advanced them a fondue. Three days from the end and before two trips to Lorient and … Rennes, they are only three steps ahead.
After being irresistible for a long time, they lost twice this week, since they had already lost Thursday in Rotterdam on the lawn of Feyenoord (3-2) in the first leg of the Europa League Conference. And they conceded three goals each time, which is not very reassuring.
OM keep their chances on both counts, of course, and Thursday’s return match against Feyenoord can send them to the C4 final and put them back on the right track.
But the Provençal club is in a painful moment and inflicts bad memories of the 2017-2018 season, when Marseille dreamed of a trophy in the Europa League and qualification for the Champions League before losing everything in a few weeks.
OL still far from the mark
OM are not there yet but they already know that Lyon will have cost them dearly this season. OL are still a long way off, 7th, five behind Nice (5th), but they can still believe in Europe. And the six points taken at OM this season, after a 2-1 success in the first leg replayed behind closed doors after the bottle throwing suffered by Dimitri Payet, could weigh heavily on both teams.
Lyon’s triumph was written in the second period, when Peter Bosz’s players, dominated before the break, took advantage of Marseille’s inefficiency and a little luck.
The first but was indeed scored by Lukeba after a free kick from Emerson deflected by the wall, which trapped Pau Lopez (1-0, 55th). Instantly, Marseille called for VAR intervention, with Dembélé stepping on the OM goalkeeper’s arms, but to no avail.
Lyon then made the break on two beautiful but registered against by Dembélé (76th) and Toko Ekambi (88th), when Marseille pushed awkwardly and without seeming to believe in it more than that despite the fervor of the Vélodrome, full to crack (nearly 65,000 spectators) for this shock which also marked the 35th anniversary of the South Winners, the main group of supporters of the club.
Missed by Milik
Jorge Sampaoli’s team had in fact missed their chance before the break and the Arkadiusz Milik case is going to be opened again. After two first missed but difficult chances (9th and 29th), the former Neapolitan should indeed have made the difference just before the break.
On this action, everything was perfect, the call of Gerson in depth, that of the Pole at the 2nd post and the supported pass of the Brazilian. Milik then only had to cut the trajectory, but the Marseille N.9, from the right, did not frame.
The end of the first period had however been rather Marseille, the men of Sampaoli installing their game of position and possession after a start to the match where they had not released an immense serenity.
Previously, one of the few hot moments had been Dembélé’s suspicious arm movement in his box from a cross from Gerson. All of OM claimed the penalty, from the players to Sampaoli via the 65,000 spectators, but only the Argentinian technician got something, with a yellow card. Evening sale for OM.
With AFP