AS Monaco 3-2 Olympique de Marseille

THE MATCH

All eyes were on Gattuso as the Italian took charge of Marseille for the first time, and he notably handed a debut to Panama international full-back Amir Murillo, a player signed just before the transfer deadline from Anderlecht. There were also starts in attack for Iliman Ndiaye and Joaquín Correa. Meanwhile Monaco coach Adi Hütter opted to start Folarin Balogun and Wissam Ben Yedder together in attack with Takumi Minamino and Aleksandr Golovin both absent.

The game more than lived up to its billing, with the opening quarter particularly action-packed. It took Marseille just 32 seconds to go in front when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s ball into the box from the left was met first-time by Ndiaye, his connection good enough to beat home goalkeeper Philipp Köhn and open the scoring.

The hosts were back level in the eighth minute when Ben Yedder laid off a throw-in by Ismail Jakobs for Akliouche to control and fire home, but OM regained the advantage in fine fashion as Jordan Veretout picked out Ndiaye on the right and his cross was met by Samuel Gigot, who netted with a first-time side-foot volley (18’).

Balogun on target

However, Monaco equalised for the second time midway through the first half as Balogun made up for his double penalty miss against OGC Nice last weekend by controlling a pass by Akliouche before producing an emphatic finish.

Shortly after that Akliouche forced a fine save from Pau López, before the action finally calmed down. Yet Monaco went ahead early in the second half when Balogun helped the ball on to Akliouche and the young midfielder beat López at his near post to make it 3-2 (52’).

That was the end of the scoring as Monaco held on for the win that sees them bounce back from losing the Côte d’Azur derby last time out. Marseille, meanwhile, have now suffered back-to-back defeats in the league and Gattuso will hope he can turn things around when his new charges face Brighton and Hove Albion in the Europa League in midweek.

THE PLAYER: Maghnes Akliouche

With Minamino and Golovin absent for Monaco, all the focus was on Ben Yedder and Balogun up front. Yet Akliouche turned out to be the star of the show with the 21-year-old propelled into the starting line-up for the first time this season and delivering in style with two goals and an assist.

THE STAT: 10

Marseille have conceded 10 goals in three games since the resignation of Marcelino García Toral as coach. Gattuso has work to do to shore up his defence.

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