Thanks to a brace from the Chilean Alexis Sanchez, Marseille won 2-0 at Clermont in the 23e Ligue 1 day, Saturday February 11, a result that allows him to put pressure on Paris Saint-Germain.
Second in the standings, OM has a fifth consecutive away victory and remains on a qualification for the Coupe de France at the expense of PSG (2-1), Wednesday, comes back to five points of the Parisians beaten in Monaco (3-1 ), earlier in the followingnoon of Saturday.
For its part, Clermont lost for the second time in a row following the defeat also conceded at home once morest Monaco (2-0) on February 5.
Incidents delayed kick-off
The match started forty-five minutes late due to incidents outside the stadium caused by less than a hundred ultra Marseille supporters without tickets trying to force their way into the enclosure.
These individuals were repelled by the police who used tear gas, which made the air unbreathable for the 13,000 spectators at the Gabriel-Montpied stadium but also for the players.
Overall, even with three quarters of an hour behind, OM controlled the game (63% possession of the ball) but only took the advantage on a penalty converted by Sanchez, awarded for a foul from Mohamed Cham following a free kick played by Ruslan Malinovskyi and deflected by goalkeeper Mory Diaw (41e). Two minutes later, the intervention of the video assistance prompted referee Rudy Buquet, who had not seen the fault, to see the hand of the Austrian to award the penalty (44e).
Sanchez secures Marseille victory
At the end of the game, Sanchez definitively ensured the success of OM. He got there twice with a header to convert a cross delivered from the right by Jonathan Clauss into a goal and make it 2-0 (81e) before being replaced (84e) in the wake of the Portuguese Vitinha, who arrived in the transfer window and the most expensive rookie in the history of Olympique de Marseille (32 million euros).
Before the opener, despite the Marseille domination, Clermont had been incisive on the counter with an attempt by Cham, diverted by Pau Lopez (13e) when a goal was disallowed for Grejohn Kyei for an offside position (24e).
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In the second half, OM, deprived at half-time of Samuel Gigot, injured in the right leg and replaced by Eric Bailly (46e), failed to widen the gap on a shot from Jonathan Clauss (48e), another from Issa Kaboré diverted by Saif-Eddine Khaoui on the crossbar (49e), while Jordan Veretout pushed Diaw to the parade (60e). At the very end of the game, a distant lob attempt from Malinovskyi landed narrowly next to Diaw’s goal (90e+4e).
