Marseille tune out Evra drama, Lyon win heated derby

PARIS: Marseille fans made their feelings clear to Patrice Evra as the Mediterranean side put their European troubles behind them by romping to a 5-0 win over Caen in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

Evra, 36, was not involved in the game at the Velodrome having been suspended by his club for aiming a karate kick at the head of one of his team’s own supporters prior to Thursday’s Europa League defeat to Vitoria Guimaraes.

But a banner at one end of the ground carried the slogan “This Game is Over” in English, parodying Evra’s favourite slogan of “I love this game”.

Another banner read: “We don’t want you in our colours anymore. Evra get lost.”

Chants also rang out insulting the former Manchester United and Juventus left-back, who was redcarded after the incident, which occurred in the pre-match warmup before the game in Portugal.

Without him Marseille ran riot, stretching their unbeaten run in the league to seven games to stay fourth.

Luiz Gustavo put the home side ahead just before the break, sweeping home after a Florian Thauvin shot had been blocked.

Thauvin then made it 2-0 just after the restart before Morgan Sanson got the third. But Thauvin was the main threat and the winger crossed for Kostas Mitroglou to head in before he completed the scoring with his second of the afternoon.

“It’s difficult to go through, of course, but what counts is having three points more tonight,” Marseille coach Rudi Garcia said. “As athletes we only have one thing to do: express ourselves on the pitch, enjoy it and please our fans.”