PSG back on top with 3-2 win at rivals Marseille

Two goals in three minutes earned Paris St Germain a 3-2 win at bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille as the French champions regained the Ligue 1 lead.

 Andre-Pierre Gignac scored twice as OM reached the interval with a 2-1 advantage after Blaise Matuidi had equalised, only for the visitors to score through Marquinhos and Jeremy Morel’s own goal in the 49th and 51st.

PSG have 62 points with seven games left and lead Olympique Lyonnais, who beat En Avant Guingamp 3-1 away on Saturday, by one point with Marseille in third on 57.

OM, who had lost only one of their last eight league games, were on the back foot early on but they went ahead on the half hour when Gignac sent a powerful header past Salvatore Sirigu from Dimitri Payet’s cross.

PSG centre back David Luiz sustained a possible hamstring injury and was substituted by Gregory van der Wiel in the 34th minute.

In the 35th, PSG hit back with Matuidi curling a superb shot from just inside the box into the far top corner.

Javier Pastore then lost possession in the midfield and Alaixys Romao set up Gignac, who slotted the ball past Sirigu two minutes before the break.

Marseille though got off to a terrible start in the second half and they paid dearly for it.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s free kick was deflected by goalkeeper Steve Mandanda into the path of Marquinhos, who smashed the ball into the roof of the net in the 49th minute.

Two minutes later, Morel, pressured by Ibrahimovic, deflected a cross into his own goal as PSG took the lead.

PSG came close to making it 4-2 when Pastore’s low shot shaved the post.

Marcelo Bielsa substituted the disappointing Florian Thauvin for Lucas Ocampos in midfield before sending on Michy Batshuayi for Gignac, who was sent off after the final whistle for arguing with the referee.

Neither change could alter Marseille’s fate, which had been sealed by their three-minute snooze.

PSG, who will take on Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals in 10 days, then lost Thiago Motta to a possible thigh injury in added time.

“We lost two players and it’s worrying ahead of the important games that await us,” said Matuidi.

It meant that PSG, who had made their three substitutions, finished the game with 10 men but they calmly held on.

Earlier, Girondins de Bordeaux kept their slim Champions League hopes alive by beating bottom club RC Lens 2-1 to stay sixth on 51 points.

Reuters

Maher Taki