Sloan Privat and Nicolas Benezet gave En Avant de Guingamp their first goals of the season in a 2-0 win that sent Olympique de Marseille crashing back to Earth in Ligue 1’s only game on Friday.
Marseille had been riding a tide of euphoria since the arrival of new coach Michel with a 6-0 rout of ESTAC Troyes last weekend following losses in their opening two games, but cold reality hit again in Brittany.
The 26-year-old Privat had missed a penalty early on, but made up for it by getting his team’s first goal after 72 minutes at the Stade du Roudourou with Benezet scoring the second with one minute to go.
Photo: AFP
Their first points of the season lifted Guingamp off the bottom of the table just behind Marseille, who are 13th, also with three points from four games.
It ended a series of eight consecutive defeats for Jocelyn Gourvennec’s Guingamp against Marseille.
“It’s difficult to host Marseille and to get your campaign back on track,” Gourvennec said. “To win 2-0 against Marseille is a great performance. We now have three points like Marseille.”
Marseille coach Michel had started with the same lineup as against Troyes, but his side lacked the efficiency they showed at the Stade Velodrome a week ago.
Remy Cabella was the only bright spark as he organized the midfield, while Abdelaziz Barrada and Romain Alessandrini failed to feature, the latter missing a chance after 31 minutes following a Cabella cross.
Privat missed a penalty for Guingamp after four minutes following a Lassana Diarra foul on Jimmy Briand with Steve Mandanda proving solid in the Marseille goal.
Marseille had largely dominated the first half, but failed to break through the Guingamp defense.
Belgium forward Michy Batshuayi missed again just before the break when he pick up a Cabella cross only to see his effort across the goal skim past the post.
The Brittany side also missed chances with midfielder Moustapha Diallo heading right of goal on 25 minutes, while Marseille’s Benjamin Mendy cleared a Marcus Coco effort just before the break.
Privat got the breakthrough when he picked up a Briand offering and turned into an empty net.
Marseille pushed for the equalizer in the final 15 minutes, but came up against a tenacious Guingamp.
And it was the Bretons who got another when Benezet fired left to leave Mandanda with no chance.
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