Olympique de Marseille moved to provisional second in the table thanks to a 2-0 victory at Nîmes, their fifth consecutive Ligue 1 Uber Eats three-point haul.
THE MATCH
André Villas-Boas' side are now only a point behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain with a game in hand on the champions. Victory capped off a fine week for OM, following Tuesday evening's 2-1 win over Olympiacos that ended a record 13-match losing run in the UEFA Champions League.
Villas-Boas rested Florian Thauvin and went with a 4-4-2 midfield diamond. Dimitri Payet enjoyed a free role alongside Dario Benedetto in attack and the scorer of both goals against Olympiacos provided the first spark as he dribbled past Patrick Burner before bringing the best out of Baptiste Reynet (13').
Nîmes, now beaten in six of their last seven league games, almost took the lead (17') when former Swedish Under-21s international Niclas Eliasson hit the crossbar from 25 metres with a superb left-footed shot. Michaël Cuisance (27') went close for the visitors before Villas-Boas was sent to the stands (40') for vociferously making his point following a yellow card for Duje Caleta-Car.
Alvaro Gonzalez's deflected header (45') was followed on the other side of half-time by another Marseille chance as Benedetto (49') failed to score with an unmarked header. Benedetto finally got off the mark for the season in the previous weekend's win over Nantes and the Argentinian netted for the second week running (57') as he ran in behind to latch onto Alvaro's long pass. Benedetto controlled with his chest and then angled a shot across Reynet.
Nîmes sub Moussa Koné (63') spurned a great chance to equalise before Jérôme Arpinon's side were reduced to ten men as Paraguayan Andrés Cubas was shown two yellow cards in the space of three minutes (77'). OM took advantage of their extra player (84') as the unmarked substitute Valère Germain turned in Morgan Sanson's cross for his second league goal of the season.
THE PLAYER: Dario Benedetto
Benedetto scored his first Marseille hat-trick at Nîmes at the end of February in a 3-2 success and loves facing Les Crocodiles, having also scored against them in a 3-1 home success just before Christmas 2019. Now under pressure from Germain for a starting place and with Villas-Boas hinting at signing a number nine in January, it is vital for the 30-year-old to keep the goals coming.
THE STAT: 14
Marseille are now unbeaten in their last 14 away Ligue 1 matches (W11, D3), the longest run of any club playing in the five major European leagues.
