Olympique de Marseille let the victory slip by conceding a draw at the very end of the match against Troyes (1-1). ESTAC came out of the red zone, OM went second, one point behind Nice.
Sharply beaten by Clermont in its Vélodrome stadium on the last day (0-2), Olympique de Marseille was to return to success with the Trojan red lantern, this Sunday. After the draw conceded by Nice in Strasbourg, the Phocaeans had a good opportunity to recover the place of runner-up to PSG and to do so, Jorge Sampaoli chose to trust the attacking trio Ünder-Payet-Dieng. Milik therefore started on the bench, like winter recruits Bakambu and Kolasinac.
The start of the match turned in favor of the locals, eager to produce play and not let themselves be crushed by the Marseillais. The first opportunity came from Tardieu, who took a free kick not far above the wall (13th). Found at the back post, completely alone, Salmier also lacked precision to open the scoring (19th). A very good start to the match for ESTAC finally spoiled by this overly strong tackle from Baldé on Guendouzi, in full surface. A penalty offered and transformed by Payet (1-0, 27th), when OM clearly did not have control of the game in this first act.
OM did not know how to take shelter
After the break, ESTAC continued to put pressure on OM confined to their half of the field. Kouame, served alone in the center by Baldé, just missed the equalizer against a vigilant Lopez (62nd), even if the assistant referee had signaled an offside at the start of this action. Unable to shoot on goal (only one shot attempted in the second half), OM couldn’t make the difference and contented themselves with spinning the ball at the end of the game to avoid conceding the equaliser.
But faced with this soporific OM, ESTAC believed in it until the end. After a Trojan corner obtained, Koné played a one-two with Kouamé on his left wing, who could cross on the ground for Touzghar. The striker threw himself to cut at the near post and make the Stade de l’Aube exult (1-1, 90th). It was therefore after a crazy end to the match that Marseille conceded a draw, but still went second in the standings, with a point ahead of Nice. A complicated draw before the round of 16 of the Conference League, against Basel and the trip to Brest the next day. Troyes carried out an excellent operation this Sunday, as the Aube club came out of the red zone and moved up to 17th place. The trip to Bordeaux promises to be decisive for the race to maintain the next day.
