Florian Thauvin scored one goal and set up another as Ligue 1 leaders Olympique de Marseille beat Nantes 2-0 at the Stade Velodrome on Friday.
Thauvin deftly converted a Dimitri Payet cross and then saw his free-kick headed home by Rod Fanni as Marseille opened up a two-goal lead before halftime and held on to claim a seventh consecutive home victory, their best run at the Velodrome since their 2009-2010 title-winning campaign.
The result ensured that they go into next month on top of the table, although reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain had the chance to trim their lead back to one point with a win at home to OGC Nice yesterday afternoon.
Photo: Reuters
“Nantes are a good, well-disciplined side. It was tougher than usual for us, but we managed to keep our run going,” Marseille goalkeeper and captain Steve Mandanda told beIN Sports.
“Victories breed confidence. We believe in ourselves and it would be good to finish strongly before the winter break,” he said. “We are aware that the road is long and there are very good teams out there, but we remain focused, humble, and will work hard to win as many matches as possible between now and the end of the season.”
Nantes went into the game in fourth place thanks to a fine sequence of nine matches undefeated, their best run since they last won the title in 2000-2001.
Les Canaris were first to threaten when a Remi Gomis long-range shot tested Mandanda in the home goal, but it was l’OM who opened the scoring 24 minutes in.
Payet, playing against his old club, did well to dig out a cross from the right flank and Thauvin got in front of Issa Cissokho to flick the ball into the net with the outside of his boot.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side have made a habit of starting games well this season and that was the 11th time they had found the net in the opening half hour of matches.
Ligue 1’s leading scorers have also been grateful to Mandanda for some fine goalkeeping and to luck at times, though, and that was the case in the 36th minute when the France international saved from Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, with the Nantes winger then unable to net the followup as he lost his balance.
Three minutes after that Marseille doubled their lead, Fanni meeting Thauvin’s right-wing free-kick at the near post and heading the ball past Remy Riou for his first Ligue 1 goal in nearly two years.
Nantes won in Marseille 12 months ago, a result that led to l’OM coach Elie Baup being sacked, but they never really looked capable of getting back into Friday’s game in the second half, even if Mandanda was called into action again to keep out a Jordan Veretout shot.
Elsewhere this weekend, AS Monaco were looking to build on their midweek UEFA Champions League win at Bayer 04 Leverkusen when they traveled to in-form Stade de Rennais yesterday, while third-placed Olympique Lyonnais face local rivals AS Saint-Etienne today.
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