Lirola strikes late to give Marseille win | OneFootball

Pol Lirola scored in stoppage time as Olympique de Marseille came from behind to beat relegation-threatened FC Lorient 3-2 at the Orange Vélodrome on Saturday and boost their hopes of European qualification. Elsewhere Stade Rennais FC ran out 3-0 winners at Angers SCO.

Olympique de Marseille 3-2 FC Lorient

THE MATCH

Lirola’s low strike into the far corner in the first minute of added time decided a thrilling encounter in Marseille’s favour, as OM made it four wins out of four at home since Jorge Sampaoli was appointed as coach.

Earlier Terem Moffi had given Lorient the lead in the 19th minute when he was played in by Yoane Wissa and rounded Steve Mandanda to score. Marseille started sluggishly but were much improved after half-time and Arkadiusz Milik was denied by Lorient goalkeeper Matthieu Dreyer before the Pole set up the equaliser in the 53rd minute. He did brilliantly to knock down a long ball forward into the path of Dimitri Payet, who did not need to break his stride as he scored with a stunning volley.

Soon after that Marseille went in front, Florian Thauvin setting up Lirola to score his first goal of the evening (56’), and Payet then missed a great chance to put the home side out of sight. It looked like he would live to regret that when Lorient hauled themselves back on level terms again thanks to an excellent finish by Moffi for his second of the game and his 11th of the season (70’).

Mandanda then had to produce a good save to tip over an Armand Laurienté strike and Sampaoli’s side then went on to snatch the victory thanks to Lirola. Marseille scored the only goal of their 1-0 win over Stade Rennais FC on Sampaoli’s debut in the 88th minute, and netted twice from the 88th minute onward to beat Stade Brestois 29 3-1 in their next home outing. After conceding a stoppage-time equaliser in last week’s 3-3 draw at Montpellier Hérault SC, once again they kept going to score at the death here.

The result leaves OM level on points with fifth-placed RC Lens in the fight for the last European place, while a second straight defeat leaves Lorient still just two points above the bottom three.

THE PLAYER: Pol Lirola

The 23-year-old Spanish full-back has impressed since arriving on loan from Fiorentina and here he scored his first two goals in a Marseille shirt, including that late winner. He had not scored in a league game since netting for Sassuolo against Torino in Serie A in May 2019.

THE STAT: 4

Sampaoli is the first Marseille coach to win his first four top-flight home games in charge since Raymond Goethals in 1991.

Angers SCO 0-3 Stade Rennais FC

Earlier on Saturday Rennes boosted their own European hopes as they eased to a 3-0 win away against Angers at the Stade Raymond-Kopa. After failing to score in his first 23 Ligue 1 Uber Eats appearances, Belgian international Jérémy Doku got his second goal in as many appearances when he struck the opener in first-half stoppage time at the end of a one-two with Martin Terrier.

Flavien Tait then set up Terrier to make it 2-0 in the 63rd minute and Serhou Guirassy got a late third to seal the victory, keeping Rennes just a point behind Marseille and ending any hopes Angers still had of qualifying for Europe in Stéphane Moulin’s final campaign as coach.

>> FIXTURES/RESULTS: Round 33