PLAYER RATINGS | Lyon 1-0 Marseille: Balerdi own goal settles fiery Olympico as OL punish 10-man OM | OneFootball

Olympique Lyonnais got their revenge in the Olympico against a 10-man Marseille with a 1-0 win thanks to a late winner scrambled home by Pavel Šulc. Les Gones have now won all three of their opening Ligue 1 matches this season, not conceding a single goal in the process.

The Match

Marseille had dominated the early stages of the Olympico in terms of possession, but little showed for it after the first ten minutes apart from a quick skirmish into the box by Hamad Junior Traoré. OL were content to sit back and soak up the pressure, but when they got forward in the 14th minute, Malick Fofana’s cross fell to Abner and Geronimo Rulli was required to pull a quick reflex save from the Brazilian’s volley.

Abner was once again involved in the action, bursting through on goal and going down – François Letexier initially pointed to the spot but upon VAR review saw a blatant dive from the defender who was then carded as a result and the decision overturned. Lyon got a little bit closer once again, this time rolling the ball into the back of the net and profiting off a mistake at the back from Marseille – but luckily for OM the assistant’s flag was raised on the far side for a marginal offside on Malick Fofana. The game would immediately shift in tone when a late challenge on Fofana from CJ Egan-Riley saw the Englishman receive a straight red card: Les Phocéens would have to face 60 minutes down to ten men. Les Gones then became the ascending force and Rulli had to be forced into several fine stops – just before half-time the hosts would have the ball again in the back of the net, but Letexier would pull it back for a light foul.

The second half called for a reorganisation of De Zerbi’s side, who were lucky to still be level after several big Lyon chances. Mason Greenwood was hauled off for Ulisses Garcia, as Bilal Nadir came off for Pol Lirola, and Derek Cornelius making an entrance. Les Phocéens had a huge opportunity on the break on the hour mark after a start to the second half which saw Lyon dominate the ball but unable to find a killer touch. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang went racing on the transition with Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, the Dane being played into the box and forcing a quick save from Descamps. Tessman then had a glorious chane to open the scoring after a pinpoint cross from Abner. Ulisses Garcia then did some trickery to force some space and found Hamad Traoré who flicked goalwards – OM were showing that they could still pose a threat with ten men.

But Lyon weren’t willing to let the away side get into the game, and Les Gones finally got their winner after Tagliafico beat Rulli to the ball, but it hits the crossbar before there is a scramble between Sulc and Balerdi, and the ball bundles into the net off the Czech striker to send the Groupama stadium into raptures. Finally, revenge for OL in the Olimpico and an 100% record intact since the start of the season for a side that had been condemned to administrative relegation by the DNCG earlier this summer.

OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS PLAYER RATINGS

Rémy Descamps – 5

Vinicius Abner – 5

Moussa Niakhaté – 5

Clinton Mata – 5

Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 5

Tyler Morton – 6

Tanner Tessman – 6

Khalis Merah – 5

Corentin Tolisso – 5

Malick Fofana – 6

Clearly Malick Fofana is Lyon’s greatest attacking outlet and was OL’s main man in the first half, he provoked the danger which forced Egan-Riley into a late challenge and was a constant threat for Les Gones until he had to be hauled off in the 52nd minute.

Adam Karabec – 5

OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE PLAYER RATINGS

Geronimo Rulli – 7The Argentine shot-stopper was busy in both halves, and soaked up an intense amount of pressure once OM had gone down to ten players. He had saved effectively to stop Fofana in the first half, and was needed in a number of interventions during the second period.

Timothy Weah – 5

CJ Egan-Riley – 4Perhaps his positional change to the left side of defence perturbed his bearings, but he was guilty for the disallowed goal which was flagged offside, before being rightly sent off after bringing down Malick Fofana

Leonardo Balerdi – 3

Was too wasteful with the ball, and played his side into danger – leading to a red card for CJ Egan-Riley after Malick Fofana was played in-behind down the right side. He then got himself tangled up to score an own goal which handed OL the three points. Shades of his former self.

Michael Amir Murillo – 4

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 5

Angel Gomes – 5

Bilal Nadir – 4

Hamed Junior Traoré – 6

A promising debut for Marseille in a context which was far from ideal. He was energetic, got on the ball, and showed the technical quality that was in abundance last season at Auxerre.

Mason Greenwood – 3A half of football to forget for Greenwood, who has looked shadow of the player that featured so prominently and hit the back of the net so regularly during pre-season. Certainly he was a victim of Marseille going down to ten-men, given that his capacity to defend is not his strong point. Even despite this, OM created very little in the first half – and if it doesn’t come through Greenwood, it rarely comes at all in terms of attacking output.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 4

GFFN | George Boxall