Montpellier Hérault SC 2-3 Olympique de Marseille

THE MATCH

With Arkadiusz Milik yet to return from injury, Payet led the line here and he thought he had opened his account for the season with less than five minutes on the clock when he broke the lined and fired high over Dimitry Bertaud in the Montpellier goal, but his effort was ruled out for offside (3'). Three new Marseille players nearly combined to break the deadlock midway through the first half. Matteo Guendouzi headed Gerson's corner on at the near post and William Saliba was free to meet it, but his effort went over the bar (22'). The pendulum began to swing in Montpellier's favour after that, though. Gaëtan Laborde ran off celebrating after Andy Delort's cross ended up in the back of Steve Mandanda's net, but the last touch had actually been Luan Peres's - another OM debutant (31'). There was no question that Montpellier's second goal belonged to Laborde, though. The forward worked space on the corner of the Marseille box and fired an unstoppable effort in off the far joint for 2-0 (33').

Impactful Payet

Payet earned a free-kick from Jordan Ferri on the edge of the Montpellier area at the start of the second half, one he then wrapped his right foot around, but Bertaud reacted well to push his effort clear (49'). Having had a rather subdued first half, Elye Wahi then had a pair of chances at the other end. First the young winger took a through ball beautifully on the half-turn (52') and then he breached Marseille's last line of defence with a bit of skill (60'), but both times he fired off-target. He made way for Stephy Mavididi soon after (63'), but it was Marseille who subsequently seized the initiative. Konrad de la Fuente's quick feet got him past Junior Sambia, and his low cutback made Cengiz Under's goal to reduce the arrears all but inevitable (68'). Payet then got his side back onto level terms with another dead ball, curling a fine free-kick through the wall and inside the near post (75'). The OM talisman then snatched all three points for the hosts, driving at the Montpellier defence and steering his second goal of the night into the far corner for 3-2 (80').

THE PLAYER: Dimitri Payet

Payet was only an offside flag away from a hat-trick here, his presence well and truly the difference between the two sides. Milik is injured, Dario Benedetto has struggled to convince in recent months, but coach Jorge Sampaoli may just have found the ideal solution: play his most talented player - winger by trade or not - right up front.

THE STAT: 2

With two goals, Payet finds himself atop the Ligue 1 Uber Eats scoring charts after Round 1 alongside FC Metz right-back Fabien Centonze. Payet had seven league goals and 10 assists for Marseille last season - 10 and 10 in all competitions - and he can expect to pull well clear in the coming weeks.