For the first time on the bench of new coach Gennaro Gattuso, Olympique de Marseille lost this Saturday evening in Monaco (3-2) and suffered its second consecutive loss in the championship. Ndiaye and Gigot scored for OM but Balogun and Akliouche, man of the match and scorer of a double, allowed ASM to win at the end of a two-sided match. The Rocher players temporarily take first place in Ligue 1.
In line with the Monaco-OM of previous seasons, this clash between Southerners offered its share of spectacle and goals. And this, very quickly. After only 30 seconds, Gattuso’s Olympians caught ASM cold thanks to Ndiaye’s opener, served by Aubameyang and lucky on the spot for his first achievement in the Marseille jersey. An ideal start to the match for Marseille which would only last a handful of minutes. With Golovin and Minamino absent, the young Akliouche (21), trained at the club, seized his chance perfectly, equalizing with a nice shot from a tight angle (8th). We quickly understood that this match was unbridled, allowing the attackers on both sides to have plenty of ammunition. In this little game, it was a defender, Samuel Gigot, who stood out in front of the cage. On a cross from Ndiaye, the Frenchman put OM back in front with a superb volley (18th). Before another quick equalizer for the Monegasques, thanks to Balogun, a strong scorer ideally served by Akliouche (23rd). In the process, the Monegasque hope believed in a double but Pau Lopez made a double save at point blank range.
Going blow for blow, the two teams had their (slight) highlight at the end of the first period without managing to be very dangerous, Aubameyang and Correa lacking edge on the Marseille side in particular. Returning from the locker room, while OM seemed in better shape with Harit in place of Ndiaye, it was ultimately Monaco which made the difference. On a clearance from goalkeeper Köhn, the Rocher attackers won three aerial duels and Akliouche beat Lopez a second time (53rd). Doubled and an assist, the Franco-Algerian will remember this evening for a long time. An evening that Marseille did not manage to turn around, going close to 4-2 on an attempt by Ben Yedder (63rd). Very active in his technical zone, Gattuso tried things by launching Sarr then Vitinha in attack. Ineffective jokers, in particular the Portuguese who was clumsy in all his ball catches (or almost). Opposite, Adi Hütter’s players managed their advantage without being worried, gleaning three very precious points at the end of a second much less spectacular than the first.
Thanks to this victory, Monaco temporarily regains the lead in Ligue 1 with 14 points. OM, for their part, remains 8th (9 points) and will have to quickly heal their wounds between now and Thursday (6:45 p.m.) and the reception of Brighton in the Europa League.