Matteo Guendouzi scored at both ends of the pitch as Marseille dropped points at home for the first time this season but maintained their unbeaten start to the Ligue 1 Uber Eats season with a 1-1 draw at home to Rennes on Sunday.
THE MATCH
Beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, Marseille were looking to extend their club record Ligue 1 Uber Eats start with a win over a Rennes side that had been pegged back late on in their Europa League fixture with Fenerbahçe 48 hours later.
But the Bretons, who boasted a five-game unbeaten run in all competitions at kick-off, were actually the brighter in the opening 45 minutes. Arthur Theate headed narrowly over (2') and centre-back partner Joe Rodon (11') then brought a sharp save from Pau Lopez with Bruno Génésio's men dominating the early proceedings.
Guendouzi should, however, have done better than blaze over the crossbar of former Marseille teammate Steve Mandanda (8'), who then had to dive full length after Nuno Tavares fizzed a long-range shot just wide (16').
Though OM's all-time leading appearance maker didn't have to get a touch on that effort, he certainly did have to to keep out the on-loan Arsenal wing-back's next shot (23') before Guendouzi was unfortunate to put Rennes ahead.
Hamari Traore's burst foward was picked out by Benjamin Bourigeaud, and when the Rennes captain drove the ball across, it ricocheted first off Guendouzi to turn the ball goalwards and then squirmed through Lopez, crossing the line after spinning off the crossbar (26').
Rattled, Marseille very nearly conceded a second when Jonathan Clauss' careless backpass was intercepted by Amine Gouiri, but the summer signing from Nice, who ended a 20-game goal drought by finding the net in last weekend's 5-0 defeat of Auxerre, could not take advantage (28').
Both teams then took their foot off the gas only for Marseille — no doubt spurred by coach Igor Tudor — to race out of the blocks after half-time, and Guendouzi steered a near-post header beyond Mandanda from a Jordan Veretout corner (52') to keep OM unbeaten.
THE PLAYER: Joe Rodon
The on-loan Tottenham Hotspur centre-back was excellent against his parent club's Champions League opponents, making a number of important blocks, notably from Alexis Sanchez to deny the dangerous Chilean what likely would have been a goal.
THE STAT: 7
Rennes have failed to win any of their last seven away games in Ligue 1 Uber Eats since a 3-2 victory at Reims on 9 April. This was their fourth draw in that series.
Elsewhere, Monaco's revival continued as they won a third straight league game with a 3-0 win at Reims. All their goals came in the second half with Takumi Minamino opening his Ligue 1 account following his summer move from Liverpool. Romain Hamouma's goal at Brest was enough to earn Ajaccio their first win since promotion while Nabil Bentaleb struck the only goal of the game as Angers inflicted a damaging defeat on Nice at the Allianz Riviera. Troyes came back from conceding an early goal at Clermont to win 3-1 with Mama Baldé getting two of their goals.
>> NEWS: Neymar 'PSG can win it all with Messi'
