Olympique de Marseille scored eight minutes from time despite being down to 10 men to secure a 2-1 win over FC Nantes on Alexis Sanchez's home debut at the Orange Vélodrome on Saturday night.
Olympique de Marseille 2-1 FC Nantes
THE MATCH
Alexis was handed his first start following his summer arrival from Inter Milan, but it was fellow new arrival Jonathan Clauss who had the first chance for OM, the right wing-back forcing a save from Alban Lafont from a tight angle (4'). Alexis found Jordan Veretout with a low drive from the subsequent corner, but the midfielder's effort then failed to test Lafont (5'). Gerson touched a fine through-ball around the corner for Alexis soon after and the Chilean looked odds on to open his Marseille account, but Andrei Girotto recovered well (13'). Sanchez's former Arsenal teammate Mattéo Guendouzi should have done better than to find the outside side-netting with a shot (39') and Nantes nearly punished the profligacy at the end of the half when Moses Simon had a chance against the run of play, but he blazed high of Pau Lopez's goal (41'). Nuno Tavares - another Gunners player on loan at Marseille - dithered when he should have shot (43') and it was goalless at the break.
Late flurry
How that remained the case seven minutes after the restart, only Simon can know. Fabio sprung the Marseille defence on the break and squared for the Nigerian, but he could only fire over with the goal at his mercy (52'). Simon did force a save from Lopez soon after, Ludovic Blas doing well to tee him up before the flag went up for offside anyway (61'). Dimitri Payet entered the fray for the final half-hour, replacing Guendouzi (65') but Nantes continued to threaten, Blas firing into his markers' legs when he could have squared for a teammate (67'). Payet's corner soon after led to the opener: Clauss picked up possession after a Lafont punch, and his shot was then turned goalward by Chancel Mbemba (70'). Nantes were deservedly back on level terms soon after. Samuel Gigot was sent off for a foul in the box and Blas stepped up to thump home the resulting penalty (78'). OM had the final say, though, Luis Suarez's header deflected beyond Lafont by Nicolas Pallois (82').
THE PLAYER: Dimitri Payet
Payet changed the game after he came on. Many eyeballs were on Alexis making his home debut, but Payet remains the darling of the Orange Vélodrome and new coach Igor Tudor will have to find a way to get them both into his starting line-up sooner rather than later.
THE STAT: 1
Mbemba's goal was his first for Marseille since joining from Porto in the summer. A centre-back, Mbemba has a goalscoring habit - the Congolese hasn't had a goalless season since 2018/19.
