Relief for Villas-Boas as Marseille win, Depay rescues Lyon
PARIS: Marseille took advantage of two comical defensive mix-ups to secure a 2-1 win at home to Lille on Saturday that sent them up to fourth in Ligue 1 and alleviated some of the pressure on coach Andre Villas-Boas.
Morgan Sanson stroked home the opening goal on 48 minutes after Lille goalkeeper Mike Maignan spilled a cross following a hefty collision with teammate Gabriel.
The Brazilian centreback unwittingly gifted Marseille a second goal 11 minutes from time when Valentin Rongier’s tame shot struck Dario Benedetto before Adama Soumaoro’s attempted headed clearance struck Gabriel and looped in off the post.
Lille captain Soumaoro rose magnificently to nod in a corner to give the visitors hope but Marseille held on to move level with third-placed Nantes on 19 points.
It was just a second win in seven league outings for Marseille and the ideal tonic for a team dumped out the League Cup in midweek following a display branded “shameful” by Villas-Boas.
That 2-1 loss at Monaco followed a 4-0 humbling away to Paris St Germain, a defeat which left Marseille winless in 16 Ligue 1 meetings with their greatest rivals.
“I think we deserved the win. We played with everything we’d been missing the past two matches,” said Villas-Boas.
“We spoke (this week). We were all frustrated because we played two good second halves, which shows we’re capable of doing it. It just needs to be applied for 90 minutes.”
As for Lille, Christophe Galtier’s side have not won away from home in the league since March and missed the opportunity to reduce the gap to leaders PSG.
“I think we’re going to be in the New Year’s Eve bloopers,” said Galtier. “You can’t concede goals like that at this level, two goals from big mistakes.”
Memphis Depay conjured up a superb 95th-minute winner as Lyon twice fought back from a goal behind to defeat Toulouse 3-2.
Yaya Sanogo put Toulouse ahead on 15 minutes but Depay soon levelled after a slick assist from Jeff Reine-Adelaide.
Toulouse regained the lead when Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes crashed into teammate Jason Denayer coming for a cross, with the ball rolling off Lopes into the net.
Moussa Dembele’s eighth goal of the season pulled Lyon level again before a brilliant solo strike from Depay won it at the death.
“This should make the players take note that you must never give up,” said Lyon boss Rudi Garcia, whose side moved up to eighth.
“Even when we were trailing twice I felt there was character in this team and this proves the players refused to accept defeat.”—