For the fourth time in a row, Olympique de Marseille failed to win their match in Ligue 1 on Saturday, October 29, this time against Strasbourg, which snatched a draw at home (2-2), in the last minutes. game. An inauspicious result before playing their Champions League qualification against Tottenham on Tuesday.
Three days after the setback in C1 on the lawn of Eintracht Frankfurt (2-1), the Phocaeans, with a revamped team, thought they had done the hardest part by leading 2-0, but they ended up cracking under the pressure. Racing and an incandescent Stade de la Meinau.
It was the banned Bamba Dieng, for his first tenure of the season, who opened the scoring quickly (8e), then Issa Kaboré, who rarely started, widened the gap (35e). Closing the gap of Lebo Mothiba (75e) however woke up the RCSA, which snatched the draw in added time thanks to Kevin Gameiro (90e+2).
The Olympians had lost their last three league matches and therefore only scored one point out of the last twelve possible. They remain fifth with 23 points, seven lengths behind Lens, the dolphin of the untouchable Parisian leader. RCSA, who have won only one game this season, remain 16e with 9 points on the clock, but could switch to the relegation zone on Sunday at the end of this 13e daytime.
Precious Payet
Three days before a capital match against the Spurs at the Vélodrome, where victory will be mandatory to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League, Igor Tudor had left several usual holders to rest like Alexis Sanchez, Nuno Tavares or Valentin Rodier.
OM however started with their feet to the ground and confiscated the ball. Quickly, the Phocaeans proved dangerous with a slalom in the surface of Dimitri Payet, who carried out a festival of hooks before serving Dieng, whose shot was cleared on his line by Thomas Delaine (6e).
The second situation was the right one: on a clearance from… Pau Lopez, the Olympian goalkeeper, Dieng got the better of Gerzino Nyamsi and placed a shot that was slightly deflected by Maxime Le Marchand and lobbed Matz Sels (0- 1, 8e). Then Cengiz Under called on the Alsatian goalkeeper with a powerful strike (16e), before finding the post by taking up an offering from Payet, very leggy and technically valuable (26e).
Mothiba sounds the revolt
The stirring Turkish was then behind Marseille’s second goal with a superb opening for Jonathan Clauss, whose cross was taken at the far post by Kaboré (0-2, 35e). The Strasbourg, very struggling, lacked accuracy and did not show much in the first period, obtaining only two situations, a shot off target from Habib Diallo (24e) and a cross from Adrien Thomasson deflected off his crossbar by Jordan Veretout (38e).
Back from the locker room, the physiognomy of the match did not change between Marseilles all in control and awkward Alsatians who were even whistled by some of their supporters, a very rare event since the rise in the elite in 2017. OM seemed to have the game under control, but Mothiba’s narrowing of the gap, with a nice shot from close range into the top corner after a chest control (76e), changed the game.
Marseille retreated and Strasbourg, carried by its public, multiplied the waves on the goal of Pau Lopez. Author of two parades in quick succession ahead of Gameiro (89e), the Spaniard ended up cracking on a superb strike from the Alsatian striker who ignited the Meinau (90e+4). Enough to send OM back to their frustration, before the fall clash at the Vélodrome.