From Mario Balotelli's explosive debut in French football to Dimitri Payet and Florian Thauvin orchestrating a handsome victory, recent Ligue 1 Uber Eats encounters between OGC Nice and Olympique de Marseille have served up some fabulous football.
Though this weekend's scheduled game has been postponed, ligue1.com has tried to fill the gap by bringing you a trio of classic games between the Mediterranean derby rivals.
2017/18, Round 8: Nice 2-4 Marseille
Mario Balotelli had already scored four times in his opening four Ligue 1 Uber Eats appearances of the season, and the red-hot Italy international forward gave the hosts an early lead. Jean Michaël Seri doubled it (16') before OM turned the game on its head in little over 20 minutes. Lucas Ocampos scored twice (26', 44') before the break — either side of a Pierre Lees-Melou own-goal (40') — and Luiz Gustavo added a fourth early in the second half (48'). Just to keep up the fun, the Brazil international midfielder was sent off (67') and Alassane Plea missed a penalty (82') as it was anything but a quiet 90 minutes at the Allianz Riviera.
2016/17, Round 4: Nice 3-2 Marseille
Balotelli scored 15 times in his first Ligue 1 Uber Eats season, and two of them came against the club he would later join in a five-goal game for the ages. And typically for the former Manchester City and Liverpool striker, he did all of this in a headline-grabbing debut in French football.
His early penalty (8') was soon cancelled out by Florian Thauvin (14'), and when Bafetimbi Gomis scored from the spot with 17 minutes left, the visitors looked like they might carry the day. Up stepped 'Super Mario', however, to equalise (78') before Wylan Cyprien struck a late matchwinner (88') to leave the Allianz Riviera in raptures.
2014/15, Round 4: Marseille 4-0 Nice
The pair had served up a 5-4 thriller in the Coupe de France only the previous season. OM scored four that day only to be on the losing side, so when they faced the same opponents early in the following campaign in another Round 4 encounter, they were clearly determined not to face the same fate. They struck four times once again, only this time Steve Mandanda kept a clean sheet as Dimitri Payet (19', 48') scored twice while Thauvin (45') and substitute Abdelaziz Barrada (88') all found the net in a handsome win for the hosts, their biggest ever in this fixture.
