It's the 85th minute at the Orange Vélodrome, and Olympique de Marseille are heading for another disappointment to follow on from the one against ASSE on Thursday (0-2). But, all of a sudden, Valère Germain appears. From a corner perfectly curled in by Morgan Sanson, the OM striker, who has a rare gift for timing, jumps higher than Renato Sanches at the near post and angles his header past Mike Maignan. His specialty! Lille, punished by OM last season, must have known it was coming. His strike, OM's fourth in a row from a set piece and their fifth of the season, was a trademark Germain number, every bit as much as Florian Thauvin's left-footed curlers are his.

Valère Germain's last goal in Ligue 1 Uber Eats came on 21 September 2019. The Marseille native saved his side in the 71st minute by equalising against Montpellier Hérault SC. Almost a year later, to the day, he repeated the feat performance to end a 22-match dry spell in France's top flight. Often criticised on the Canebière, the former AS Monaco player, always unstinting in his work for the team, has once again reminded us that his sense of goal, and his ability to come through in the most delicate moments, remains rare within the Marseille team. Subbed on with 20 minutes to go on Sunday evening, Valère Germain was certainly smiling after bagging his 20th OM goal in his 100th Ligue 1 Uber Eats appearance for the southern giants.

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Valère Germain knows how to step up when his team is struggling, as he proved against AS Monaco and LOSC last season. At the Stade Louis II (5 September 2019), OM were 2-0 down after barely thirty minutes of play. A large victory for Monaco - which would break OM's three-match unbeaten run - looked to be on the cards, but Germain had other ideas. Involved win the lead-up to Dario Benedetto's pilling one back, he then turned scorer a few minutes later, setting his side on track for a sensational 4-3 come-from-behind win.

Away to Lille (16 February 2019), the former OGC Nice striker conjured a superb, angled near-post header that the unfortunate Reinildo - credited with an own-goal - couldn't prevent from crossing the line. Germain then produced a pin-point low cross for Benedetto to tap home from close range and complete the comeback for a 2-1 win. Although Germain admitted on Sunday night  that "for the first three quarters of the match, we didn't do anything", LOSC must have known that there was danger lurking when Germain came on. And that danger did the job for OM. But was it enough to convince OM boss André Villas-Boas to offer Gemrain more playing time? We'll see...