Collapsed after their elimination from the Champions League on Tuesday, Marseille and its coach Igor Tudor found some joy and comfort by beating Lyon on the occasion of the first Olympico of the 2022-2023 season (1-0), still in full convalescence, Sunday at the Stade Vélodrome.
A victory against OL is a real rarity in Marseille’s career in recent years. Of the 15 previous clashes in L1 between the two teams, Marseille had won only one.
End of a sad series
But this success is all the more precious as OM remained on a terrible series in L1 – only one point taken in four matches – which threatened to drag it dangerously towards the second third of the table.
On the contrary, the three points taken on Sunday bring the Provençals very close to the podium, 4th one point behind Rennes (3rd) and tied with Monaco (5th), whom they will face on Sunday before the championships give way to the World Cup. After two victories, the Lyonnais for their part relapsed and remain stuck in 8th place, from where Laurent Blanc will have to extricate them.
Too many inaccuracies
While Blanc had opted for an unprecedented 4-4-2, Tudor finally maintained his immovable Veretout-Rongier midfielder, contenting himself with starting Under and leaving Guendouzi on the bench, a real surprise, for once.
Throughout the first period, his players in any case showed that they had not let go of the Croatian, biting into the match with the usual desire and intensity.
OM even had some good ideas, marred by too many technical inaccuracies and a few too many touches. Opposite, the threat was embodied by the Lacazette-Dembélé duo and by the technical skill of Aouar, but it remained very theoretical, OL only approaching Pau Lopez’s goal just before the break, on a Caqueret free kick well slammed by the Spaniard.
Like in MMA
But at that moment, OM were already in front, rewarded for their good first period by a goal signed by Gigot with a header from a corner well struck by Veretout.
After a shock with Veretout, Gigot was then bandaged in the head and had to leave, thus missing the good quarter of an hour of fight in which the two teams engaged. None really came out victorious, even if Lyon had a chance, via Toko Ekambi.
At the very end of the match, Sanchez on a candy from Payet then Guendouzi should have scored all the same and allowed the public to breathe.