The first signs of a rivalry: Marseille 5-2 Lyon, August 16, 1972

Before the early 1970s there was little to suggest that these clubs could be real rivals. But in 1972 Marseille won a second consecutive league title with a team fuelled by the goals of prolific Yugoslavia striker Josip Skoblar. Indeed OM had won the double in 1971-72, while Lyon had come fifth, one of their best-ever finishes up to that point. In Bernard Lacombe and Fleury Di Nallo they had two prolific strikers of their own.

So it was no surprise that this meeting of the sides, in the second round of the season, should be such a goal-fest. Joseph Bonnel scored a hat-trick for the home side, including two goals in the first eight minutes and another goal early in the second half. Serge Chiesa had at one point brought Lyon back into the contest, but Skoblar scored twice, including from a penalty, to put the hosts out of sight in front of a recorded crowd of 32,000. Di Nallo’s consolation brought it back to 5-2.

Later that season the teams met in the reverse fixture at the Stade de Gerland and drew 4-4, with Di Nallo and Skoblar each scoring twice. Marseille finished the season in third, with Lyon 13th. However, OL defeated OM 4-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France on the way to lifting the trophy. Marseille's 1972 title-winning team were paraded on the pitch at the Vélodrome last year, with Skoblar second from the left in the picture below.

Depay’s last-minute winner: Marseille 2-3 Lyon, March 18, 2018

The rivalry between these clubs has taken off over the last decade, just as the Qatari takeover of Paris Saint-Germain made them untouchable for the rest of France and Marseille and Lyon began to regularly fight it out with each other for Champions League qualification. The media notoriety of Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas and his Marseille counterparts - notably Vincent Labrune - helped add spice to these occasions.

After Lyon’s run of seven straight titles ended in 2008, the clubs drew 5-5 in an incredible encounter at the Stade de Gerland in OM’s title-winning 2009/10 campaign. Since then there has often been little between the teams in the final league standings, but Lyon have enjoyed by far the better record in head-to-head meetings.

In 2017-18, OL had beaten OM 2-0 at the Groupama Stadium in December and the clubs met again in March at the Vélodrome with 60,000 fans willing the home team on. The hosts duly took the lead when Adil Rami knocked down Dimitri Payet’s free-kick for Rolando to score from close range, but an own goal by the unfortunate Rami made it 1-1 before the interval.

A sumptuous strike by Houssem Aouar then put Lyon ahead early in the second half, only for substitute Kostas Mitroglou to score a late equaliser. It looked like this Olympico would end in a draw, but up popped Memphis Depay to head in a 90th-minute winner for Lyon. It proved to be a crucial result, as Lyon finished third, denying Rudi Garcia’s Marseille a podium place and Champions League qualification by just a single point in the final reckoning.

Payet’s brace: Marseille 2-1 Lyon, November 10, 2019

Marseille have beaten Lyon just twice in the league in the last decade. There was a 4-2 victory in May 2014, inspired by an André-Pierre Gignac double, and then there was this 2-1 success in the most recent meeting of the clubs at the Vélodrome, in November 2019. The famous old ground will be empty on Sunday, but on this occasion more than 65,000 supporters were packed in to see OM triumph over Lyon and their recently-appointed coach, Garcia.

Payet put Marseille in front with a penalty following a Thiago Mendes handball, and the same player then scored a superb second goal before half-time. Moussa Dembélé reduced the deficit with a second-half header but Marseille held on, despite having Alvaro Gonzalez sent off for a foul on the Lyon striker.