PLAYER RATINGS | Marseille 3-2 Lyon: Les Phocéens win dramatic Olympico double | OneFootball

Ligue 1 McDonald’s, Round 20, 02/02/2025THE MATCH A week is a long time in football, let alone several months. A lot has changed since the last time Marseille and Lyon faced off in Ligue 1 Mcdonald’s action. For the away side, it was the first outing for new manager Paulo Fonseca, making his return to French football after being named the OL head coach, replacing the outgoing Pierre Sage who was sacked last week.

The objective has been set high for Fonseca: to reach the Champions League spots by the end of the season. Roberto De Zerbi’s men, on the other hand, need to get back on track after suffering in their recent loss to OGC Nice last weekend in the Mediterranean Derby.

The Vélodrome, of course, was bouncing at the entrance of both sets of players onto the pitch. The hosts had to settle down after an initial strong start from Les Lyonnais, but once their passing play started to get going, and with aggressivity in their challenges Marseille managed to carve out the first meaningful moment with a sweeping passing move that saw Quentin Merlin played in-behind, but he couldn’t find the strike on goal nor the cross. OL would have a great chance to go ahead via a freekick, yet Tolisso’s header looped over the bar.

By half-time, Marseille had dominated most of the ball and the chances, but with very little in terms of shots on goal and testing OL keeper Lucas Perri to show for it. Les Gones would strike back in the second period, after seeing out a tough first half away from home. On the counter-attack, Ernest Nuamah would drive into the OM midfield and lay the ball off to Rayan Cherki. The Frenchman provided a wonderful ball in behind to match Corentin Tolisso’s run, and the midfielder simply finished calmly in front of Rulli to silence the Vélodrome.It was a lead which worried the hosts, but they quickly found their feet again and caught a break of luck when Amine Gouiri came on for his OM debut and scuffed his shot wide of Perri’s goal. Yet, it would fall right at the feet of Mason Greenwood who simply had to tap into an open net to get Marseille back into the game. One would become two to the delight of the Marseille faithful, when Pierre-Emile Højbjberg’s header across goal was met with Adrien Rabiot’s own decisive headed effort to send the Vélodrome into raptures as OM took the lead for the first time in the game.

There would be another turning point in a second half which sparked to life, when Adrien Rabiot would be penalised by the referee for a controversial handball, which was given after the referee consulted VAR. None other than Alexandre Lacazette would step up and emphatically convert to put Les Gones back level. Yet, Roberto De Zerbi’s men simply wouldn’t be held back. Pol Lirola provided a cross on a plate for Luis Henrique to volley home at the far post and send the Vélodrome into raptures once again. This time though, the lead would last for De Zerbi’s men  and OM would seal an Olympico double over their Lyonnais rivals.OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE PLAYER RATINGS Geronimo Rulli – 6The Argentine shot-stopper pulled off a fine save when OM were already one goal down, it completed another solid performance, and one that is seeing him quickly become one of teh most reliable keepers in the league. Quentin Merlin – 6Full of energy, it was one of the Frenchman’s more impressive performances for OM. He had a lot of joy in possession down the left side, and combined well with Nadir and Rabiot in the attacking phase, did well to keep a tricky Cherki at bay.Leonardo Balerdi – 6Derek Cornelius – 6Amir Murillo – 5Valentin Rongier – 5Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 8Along with Adrien Rabiot, the Dane was the pace-setter and the indispensable midfield enforcer which served OM so well when chasing goals in the second period. He grabbed an assist with a header for Rabiot’s finish in the second half to top things off.Bilal Nadir – 5Adrien Rabiot – 7A real leader offensively, scoring to put OM ahead 2-1 in a mad few minutes. Playing high up the pitch, he was effective in the build-up in the first half and managed to even improve on it in the second period. Mason Greenwood – 6 Luis Henrique – 6Others: OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS PLAYER RATINGSLucas Perri – 6 Nicolas Tagliafico – 5Moussa Niakhaté – 5Nseke Kumbedi – 5Clinton Mata – 5Nemanja Matic – 4Jordan Veretout – 4Corentin Tolisso – 6Rayan Cherki – 5Alexandre Lacazette – 5Ernest Nuamah – 6

GFFN | George Boxall