PLAYER RATINGS | Marseille 1-1 Lille (LOSC win 4-3 on penalties) – Les Olympiens dumped out Coupe de France | OneFootball

A chilly Stade Vélodrome would be the backdrop for an all-Ligue 1 Coupe de France Round of 32 clash where two sides chasing Champions League football would go head to head early on in France’s historic cup competition. “You have to beat the big teams to win the Cup,” said Roberto De Zerbi in his pre-match press conference, and after beating Saint-Étienne in the previous round, a clash against Lille was a good litmus test for both side’s capabilities going into the second half of the season. OM had to break a curse to get through to the next round: Les Olympiens have never qualified in a Coupe de France match in which referee Clément Turpin has overseen.With two very strong lineups, both sides were desperate to keep their Coupe de France run going. The attacking intent was there from the very start. Rabiot’s pullback to Greenwood was superb but the Englishman couldn’t find his balance and really get hold of the ball in the six-yard box as Les Dogues cleared their lines. A high tempo beginning of the match set the tone right away, both sides took their turns to get at each other on the ball. It was a mistake which gave OM their second big chance of the game as Neal Maupay nicked the ball off the Lillois defence and dragged a low cross across the six-yard box but Gudmundsson intervened in the nick of time with a sliding challenge. As the half would wear on, OM fashioned further chances to open the scoring. Adrien Rabiot even had the ball in the net after Neal Maupay played him one on one with Mannone, but it was ruled out after Turpin adjudged Maupay to have handled the ball.Les Dogues were more pragmatic in their approach but they nonetheless carved out a few chances with Jonathan David and Rémy Cabella looking a handful for the OM defence. The latter had a strike on target which didn’t test OM’s Dutch keeper Jeffrey De Lange. Makau would blast over the bar after a clever bit of play by Bakker to feed him on the edge of the box. A Lille corner would then be cleared perfectly to Mason Greenwood who showed some stunning pace to bear down on goal one on one, but his tame strike was parried away easily by Mannone. OM had the ball in the back of the net once more, this time Greenwood’s chipped attempt was bundled in by Maupay but it bounced off a Lille defender and hit his arm on the way in. The hosts felt hard done by to not have a goal by the half-time whistle. Yet a slip of focus and Lille would have the ball in the back of the net via Mitchel Bakker, after a mistake from the OM defence. Yet Turpin would rule the goal out for… a handball, the third such offense of the game.Les Dogues open the scoring, before late late drama at the Vélodrome

The away side then managed to finally open the scoring at the Vélodrome. David broke down the right side on the counter attack and pulled back a pinpoint low cross to Hakon Haraldsson who finished easily first-time from close range (68). Les Olympiens were now chasing the game at home, and De Zerbi made the first roll of the dice by bringing on Bilal Nadir, Jonathan Rowe, and Ulisses Garcia off the bench. In injury time, Greenwood came with the closest strike of the game, cutting inside and thrashing the crossbar with a powerful strike after a cleverly-played quick corner routine. Things looked decidedly desperate for De Zerbi’s side, but then Henrique popped up with a moment of magic. The Brazilian took down the ball on the right side of the box, cut inside and let rip a powerful strike to level the proceedings at the very death.

As per the Coupe de France rules, the game went straight to a penalty shootout between the two sides. Greenwood opened successfully, before Bakker equally followed up with a solid strike. Only minutes after Henrique felt the pure elation of putting his side level, he would feel the despair of missing his spot-kick. Lille then punished OM accordingly, scoring all four of their penalties, before Jonathan Rowe put the nail in the coffin for Les Olympiens by missing his spot-kick and handing Lille qualification to the round of 16. Another year, another early Cup exit for Les Olympiens.

OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE PLAYER RATINGSJeffrey De Lange – 6The Dutch goalkeeper did what wasAmir Murillo – 5

Leonardo Balerdi – 6

Derek Cornelius – 5Quentin Merlin – 5

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 6Adrien Rabiot – 6

Valentin Rongier – 5Mason Greenwood –  5

Neal Maupay – 6Luis Henrique – 6LILLE OSC PLAYER RATINGSVitor Mannone – 6

Bafodé Diakité – 6Alexsandro – 5Thomas Meunier – 5Mitchell Bakkar – 7Benjamin André – 5N’Gal’ayal Mukau – 6Gabriel Gudmundsson – 5Hákon Arnar Haraldsson – 6Rémy Cabella – 7 Jonathan David – 5

GFFN | George Boxall