UEFA Champions League last 16, first leg

 Olympique de Marseille 1-0 Inter Milan 

The Italians had been marginally the more dangerous side until the closing stages, when Ghanaian star Ayew came close on two separate occasions before finally beating Julio César by turning in a Mathieu Valbuena corner in stoppage time. It was virtually the last kick of the game and means that Didier Deschamps’ side will now be slight favourites to progress to the quarter-finals with the second leg to come in Italy next month.

Marseille will hope to have Loïc Rémy back by the time the return at the San Siro comes around, but in his absence Deschamps opted to start with Brandão spearheading his attack, the Brazilian chosen ahead of Jordan Ayew as a reward for several impressive performances since returning to France last month.

OM were up against the oldest starting line-up ever to play a Champions League game, with the Inter side sent out by Claudio Ranieri boasting an average age of 31 years and 331 days. Indeed, nine of their players featured in the team that won this competition just two years ago, but these are changed days for the Nerazzurri, and they arrived at the Vélodrome on the back of a miserable recent run in Serie A.

Inter threaten

Despite their apparent lack of confidence, Inter were the first side to really threaten when Esteban Cambiasso broke down the left and crossed for Diego Forlán. The Uruguayan managed to sneak in between Nicolas N’Koulou and Jérémy Morel, but his first-time shot was turned over the bar by an alert Steve Mandanda.

The home side settled down and enjoyed good spells of possession, but while Valbuena looked lively, André Ayew appeared subdued on the left and Morgan Amalfitano’s delivery from the right was not up to scratch. César Azpilicueta tried his luck with a speculative volley from 25 yards that flashed just over the bar, but Benoît Cheyrou was wasteful from a dead ball, and when Valbuena did produce a good delivery, neither Souleymane Diawara nor Brandão were able to apply the finish.

Inter almost made Marseille pay for their profligacy when Azpilicueta let Cambiasso go down the visitors’ left, but his cutback was hit straight at Mandanda by Mauro Zárate. The visitors - who had beaten Lille home and away in the group stage - were also the first side to really come close to scoring in a much quieter second half, as Dejan Stankovic connected with a Wesley Sneijder free-kick eight yards out, but once again the finish was poor and Mandanda saved easily.

But just as the contest appeared to be petering out to a goalless draw, Marseille came to life. Jordan Ayew replaced Brandão up front, but it was the older of the brothers that was now looking dangerous, as he twice came close to scoring from Amalfitano crosses. The first one drifted wide, while César was right behind the second one, but the Brazilian could do nothing to prevent the Ghana star in stoppage time, and the Vélodrome erupted.

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