Olympique de Marseille: Droit au But

Olympique de Marseille’s bid for an unlikely domestic treble continued as they moved into the Semi Finals of the Coupe de la Ligue after a fantastic game at the Stade Velodrome against their bitter rivals in PSG. After an intense opening half an hour the deadlock was broken after 39 minutes when Lucas Ocampos went on a fantastic run through the PSG half which culminated in the Argentine winger running circles around Hugo Mallo, getting in behind the PSG back line and coolly slotting the ball home between Kevin Trapps legs to make it 1-0. However PSG were level just 5 minutes after half time as Mallo spotted the run of Lucas Moura from just inside the Marseille half and delivered an inch perfect cross to the Brazilian who made it 1-1. The rest of the second half was played at a frantic tempo as both sides looked for the winner, however the game went to extra time. The story of the game changed in the extra half hour as both sides tightened up, and in the 114th minute Asmir Begovic was bought on to make his L’OM debut as Christophe Galtier started to make preparations for a penalty shootout. However the change was unnecessary as in the 119th minute Lucas Ocampos started slipped the ball back to playmaker Jonas Martin. The impressive Martin played the ball in to Michy Batshuayi with the Belgian forward then playing Remy Cabella free, with the Frenchman firing past Trapp in the PSG goal to give Marseille a massive 2-1 win late on in the game, leaving PSG with no time to reply. Cabella’s goal was the final action of an intense game, and it was L’OM who were left to celebrate their place in the Semi Finals of the Coupe de la Ligue.

Marseille eased into the eleventh round of the Coupe de France with a comfortable 2-0 victory over fourth tier side US Concarneau. Unlike the previous game against AS Gardanne, Marseille didn’t pile on the pressure and settled for a 2-0 victory with a game against Nice in Ligue 1 coming soon after this cup game. Marseille took the lead after only 9 minutes when Dennis Appiah slipped Remy Cabella free down the right wing who swung a delightful ball into the Concarneau area, and the ball was netted by Romain Alessandrini who made it 1-0. The second and final goal of the came after 14 minutes when Franck Tabanou ran to the byline who delivered the ball in for Remy Cabella. The French winger had several shots saved by the Concarneau goalkeeper but eventually the ball fell to Mauro Zarate who calmly slotted the ball away to give Marseille a 2-0 lead and a place in the Eleventh Round of the competition.