PLAYER RATINGS | Lille 1-1 Marseille: Stalemate between Champions League chasers keeps Europe race wide open | OneFootball

Lille and Marseille played out a 1-1 draw at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in a clash which saw the race for Europe blow wide open in the final two rounds. Marseille stay in second, whilst Lille remain fifth after a point which seemed to suit both parties.THE MATCH It had to be a clash of Champions League proportions at Stade Pierre-Mauroy as Bruno Génésio’s Lille faced an Olympique de Marseille side, both with the opportunity of moving second in the league table with two games to go. With Lyon’s earlier loss in the day to Racing Club de Lens, Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille went into the game knowing they could seal European football, although the number one objective is the Champions League for the Phocéen club.

De Zerbi’s men looked to get on the attacking front foot early on, looking to attack with a 4-4-2 which tucked back into a 5-3-2 whenever Lille tried to get themselves up the pitch. Génésio’s Dogues were happy to sit back and soak up the pressure, patiently waiting for a moment to pounce on the transition. OM who had the first great chance to open the scoring when Murillo was slipped in-behind by Mason Greenwood, and Lucas Chevalier closed down the angle well to make the first big save in the game. The stakes were big for Champions League qualification, and it led to an extremely cagey and tactical first half which closed in muted fashion.

Both coaches made a change at half-time with Chuba Akpom coming off for the hosts, replaced by Osame Sahraoui. Ismaël Bennacer was hauled off for Valentin Rongier by Roberto De Zerbi. The beginning of the second half had a bit more spirit than the first, and Rabiot had a great opportunity from close range on the angle which was once again clawed away by Chevalier after Amine Gouiri did well to win the ball off Alexsandro just to the right side of the box.

The Algerian was involved once again, this time finishing off an incisive move which saw Adrien Rabiot played in-behind the backline with a searching through-ball, and the Frenchman put the ball on the plate for Gouiri to tap into the back of the net (56′). Yet just when OM looked in control, a huge error from Geronimo Rulli in passing out the back saw the ball headed by David into the path of Mathias Fernandez-Pardo, who slotted home to grab the equaliser for Les Dogues (74′).

Lucas Chevalier – 6Made several fine saves in the first period to keep the game level, was great at closing the angle on Murillo and showed great reactions to save from Rabiot’s effort.

Thomas Meunier – 5

Aissa Mandi – 5

Alexsandro – 5

Ismaily – 5

Hakon Haraldsson – 5

Benjamin André – 5

Nabil Bentaleb – 5

Matias Fernandez-Pardo – 6A very busy performance from the youngster, who has recently chosen to represent Spain as his nationality. He was impressive in his driving runs, and was great off the ball when pressing high onto Marseille. His goal came from some great positioning and awareness to latch onto David’s header, and the finish was well-taken under pressure.

Jonathan David – 5

Chuba Akpom – 4OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE PLAYER RATINGSGéronimo Rulli – 4 The Argentine has on balance saved more points that he has lost Marseille this season, but his mistake cost his side two points this evening which could be costly at the end of the season. Otherwise, he was rarely tested by Lille’s attacking players, which can famously be a factor in a loss of concentration for goalkeepers when playing out the back.Ulisses Garcia – 5

Geoffrey Kondogia – 5

Leonardo Balderdi – 6

Michael Amir Murillo – 5

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 6

Ismaël Bennacer – 4

Luis Henrique – 4

Adrien Rabiot – 6

Mason Greenwood – 5

Amine Gouiri – 6The Algerian international grabbed his eighth goal since signing for Marseille in January, riding high after the confidence-boosting hat-trick scored last weekend against Brest. He was involved off the ball in OM’s pressing when he was not afforded a lot of chances in the first period, and he was decisive and on point when he needed to be.GFFN | George Boxall