PLAYER RATINGS | Lille 1-0 Marseille: Mbappé punishes Rulli error as OM fall short in the North | OneFootball

LOSC Lille moved level on points with Marseille after a hard-fought 1-0 victory at home to tighten the top four in the table even further, as Ethan Mbappé’s third goal of the season secures the three points for Les Dogues.

THE MATCH 

Marseille’s previous match at Pierre Mauroy saw Geronimo Rulli hand an equaliser to Les Dogues last season, and it was another mistake from the Argentine goalkeeper which saw Lille open the scoring. Rulli rushed out to meet a long-ball over the top served by Nabil Bentaleb, and the Argentine spectacularly is out of position with his early run as Ethan Mbappé takes down the ball with a spectacular first touch and only has to sidefoot the ball into an open net to open the scoring for the hosts (9′). 

Lille dominated the opening proceedings, and Mbappé’s freekick was met with the outside foot of Olivier Giroud that then had to be cleared off the line by Leonardo Balerdi. One of Marseille’s first efforts on goal came as a deflected strike by Emerson right before the end of the first period. OM came out for the second half with more attacking intent after a first period which was far from what we’ve come to expect from De Zerbi’s men in recent months. Mason Greenwood had a strike from range which was blocked by Sahraoui, before several corners for OM. But then it was time for De Zerbi to roll the dice first, replacing Aubameyang and Pavard with Darryl Bakola and Robinio Vaz to inject some energy into the side. 

Marseille’s best chance came when Greenwood collected the ball in his own half and dribbled most of the pitch, into the box, past two Lille defenders – yet his strike was saved spectacularly by Ozer as he palmed the ball onto the post. Mmadi and Nadir would be hauled on for Les Olympiens, whilst Felix Coreira and André Gomes would come on to see out the final stages of what finished as a tight test in the North of France. OM were pushing, seeing more of the ball, but failing to generate enough chances to get themselves back into the game. Greenwood was the focal point for De Zerbi’s men, but they were too reliant on a tiring top scorer. The Englishman dribbled, sent in crosses, and at times looked like he was singlehandedly trying to get OM level – but a plethora of young talent that came on couldn’t get on the same wavelength, not able to finish those chances.

LILLE OSC PLAYER RATINGS 

Berke Özer – 6

Whilst he had a quiet first half which saw him tested very little if at all by a poor OM attacking display. Yet he managed to save his side in the second period when it looked like Greenwood would dribble the whole Lillois defence andNathan Ngoy – 6 

Aïssa Mandi – 5Thomas Meunier – 5Romain Perraud  – 5Benjamin André – 6Nabil Bentaleb – 6 

An expert first half from the Moroccan, who lay deep in midfield and dictated play precisely with his long-passing ability. He grabbed the assist for LOSC’s opening goal, a 50-yard floated ball which fell right at the feet of Ethan Mbappé.Hakon Haraldsson – 5Ethan Mbappé – 7

When he starts in Ligue 1, his goal ratio is not to be sniffed at. His opener was Mbappé’s third goal of the season, and a long-ball from Bentaleb was brought down well by the Frenchman before what was a simple finish into the open net.Osame Sahraoui – 5

Olivier Giroud – 5OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE PLAYER RATINGS

Geronimo Rulli  – 4Last season it was Rulli’s pass from out the back that led to an equaliser from Matias Fernandez-Pardo, and this time it was the Argentine that spectacularly mis-timed Nabil Bentaleb’s long-ball over the top of the defence and was in no-mans land when Mbappé simply brought the ball down and with his second touch slotted home for the opening goal.

Nayef Aguerd  – 4

Leonardo Balerdi – 5

Benjamin Pavard  – 5

Emerson – 5

Arthur Vermeeren – 5

Geoffrey Kondogbia  – 4

Timothy Weah  – 4

Igor Paixao – 3

Mason Greenwood – 5Marseille’s top scorer was quiet in the first period, which was one of the poorest attacking outputs from De Zerbi’s frontline all season. Yet in the second period, he took the responsibility and bore the weight of OM’s attacking intent on his shoulders. At times isolated, but others simply brilliant: it was a typical case of Marseille and De Zerbi over-relying on a tiring Greenwood that can only drag this side so far when the rest of the frontline aren’t being as effective. This was summed up when the Englishman took the ball practically from the half-way line into the Lille half, dribbling the majority of a reeling Northern defence before his strike on goal was saved brilliantly by Ozer.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 3GFFN | George Boxall