FC Nantes held Olympique de Marseille to a 1-1 draw at the Stade de la Beaujoire on Friday despite playing most of the match with 10 men following Bastien Meupiyou's early red card.
THE MATCH
Much of the pre-match build-up and column inches were dedicated to the fact that Joaquin Correa was in line to make his Marseille debut after arriving on loan from Inter Milan, and the Argentina attacker helped create the opening goal when his shot was parried into Ismaïla Sarr's path, who made it 1-0 (3'). But it was another debutant, Nantes' 17-year-old Bastien Meupiyou, who looked likelier to have the bigger impact on the game when he was sent off inside the first 10 minutes for fouling Sarr as the last man (9'). Marseille made little of the subsequent free-kick, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang blasting over (11'), and that characterised much of the rest of their game. Nantes dug deep despite being shorthanded and were back on level terms before the half was out when Mostafa Mohamed scored a fine fourth goal of the season on the turn, leaving Pau Lopez with no chance (39'). Rémy Descamps then saved from Correa after a Jordan Veretout free-kick (43') and it was 1-1 at the break.
Nantes hold form
Pierre Aristouy largely stuck to his guns at the interval, only bringing the athletic Kader Bamba on for Adson (46'), and Nantes gave as good as they got against the 11 men of Marseille. Bamba slipped Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel in for a chance soon after but Renan Lodi recovered the danger (51'). Sarr thought he should have had a penalty at the other end after a tussle with Douglas Augusto, but referee Ruddy Buquet waved play on (77'). Descamps then did well to keep a deflected Veretout shot out (79'). Aubameyang tried to toe a cross into the box beyond the Nantes 'keeper bit it went wide (84'). Decamps pulled off another save from Veretout (86') and the 10-man hosts held on for an impressive share of the points which means OM, top overnight, will almost certainly be overtaken over the weekend.
THE PLAYER: Moses Simon
Descamps deserves credit for keeping his goal safe but the fact Nantes were able to keep Marseille at bay was thanks in no small part to Simon, who's combination of pace and stamina allowed him to carry the ball into the channels on the counter-attack. The Nigerian is normally one of Nantes' primary attacking threats, but he did a fine defebnsive job from the front today.
THE STAT: 3
Marseille only had three shots on target in the second half despite their numerical advantage. In Correa, Sarr and Aubameyang, significant firepower has been brought to the Orange Vélodrome this summer. Marcelino now needs to find a way to get them to gel.
