Florian Thauvin was Olympique de Marseille's matchwinner as OM defeated Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday's hot-tempered Classique that saw five players sent off, including Neymar.
THE MATCH
PSG had opened their title defence with a surprise 1-0 defeat to RC Lens on Thursday, and with his club's arch-rivals in the capital, Thomas Tuchel brought Neymar and Angel Di Maria — only recently out of isolation after positive COVID-19 tests — into a starting XI that was still shorn of Kylian Mbappé, Marquinhos and Keylor Navas, all coronavirus positive too.
There was a debut for new signing Alessandro Florenzi at right-back for the hosts while Marseille, who had beaten Stade Brestois 3-2 in their only outing of the season to date, started with no out-and-out striker. Thauvin and Dimitri Payet were expected to provide the goal threat for Andre Villas-Boas' men as they sought a first win in the Parc des Princes since February 2010.
PSG were unbeaten in the duo's last 20 meetings in all competitions, and very nearly took a big step towards extending that run just two minutes in. Florenzi's cross was met by Marco Verratti at close-range, but somehow Steve Mandanda's reflexes were sharp enough to keep the ball out.
PSG then called for a penalty when Idrissa Gueye's shot appeared to strike the arm of Boubacar Kamara, but their claims were waved away by referee Jérôme Brisard. Another Florenzi cross was headed wide by Neymar as the hosts looked to have firm control of the game.
Thauvin had never scored at the Parc des Princes, and had only managed two shots on target on his six previous visits. It was to prove third time lucky for the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner. A Payet free-kick delivered to the back post found Thauvin strangely alone, and he squeezed a shot between the post and Sergio Rico (31').
Despite the Parc des Princes being devoid of its habitual capacity crowd for the fixture, there was plenty of needle and tension on the pitch. Mandanda blocked a Pablo Sarabia first-time effort to maintain the suspense (57') and then readjusted quickly to keep out a Neymar shot that had ricocheted off Alvaro Gonzalez (60').
Both sides then had goals ruled out for offside before the game descended gradually into the free-for-all that marred added time.
Layvin Kurzawa and Jordan Amavi were both dismissed after a heated coming-together while Argentine duo Leandro Paredes and Dario Benedetto made it nine men each with second yellow cards. On the advice of VAR, Neymar was also dismissed for clashing with Gonzalez to leave PSG to finish the game with eight men and Tuchel with a selection headache for Wednesday's home game against FC Metz.
THE PLAYER: Florian Thauvin
How OM missed him last season, and they surely would have been closer to PSG in the 2019-20 table if the former SC Bastia and Newcastle United man had played more than just a handful of minutes. Fit again, he has now been involved in all of Marseille's league goals this season, scoring two of them himself.
THE STAT: 2
PSG have lost their opening two matches of the league season without scoring a goal for only the second time in the club's history following that of 1978-79.
