Summary
Well that’s it from me after a very enjoyable night’s football. Lots of drama in an incredibly open game, which Marseille appeared in control of at half-time thanks to two Gignac goals. But PSG hit back with two of their own in two second-half minutes and the home players, and crowd, never really recovered. Advantage PSG in the title race. Thanks for your emails. Bye!
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Red card! Gignac (post-match)
Erm. Not quite sure what’s happened here... but it looks like Gignac came back onto the field after the final whistle to remonstrate with the referee, and reading between the lines I would guess he used some choice language which was not received well. A terrible end to what could have been a brilliant night for the France forward.
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Full-time: Marseille 2-3 PSG
90+5 mins: There was one more chance and it fell to PSG, but they slowed things down and went towards the corner which worked a treat as Marseille fouled Lavezzi by the touchline. PSG take a major step towards defending their Ligue 1 title with a thrilling contest at the Stade Vélodrome. It won’t be any consolation for Marseille but Le Classique was a fantastic advert for French football.
90+3 mins: Marseille are throwing everything forward and a ball into the box falls kindly for Ocampus... but he bends the ball high and wide as the crowd hold their breath. There might be one more chance, you feel.
90 mins: The camera pans to the sideline where Gignac stands, arms folded, looking a bit fed up. I wonder if he’s one of those strikers who secretly prefers to score two and lose than have a stinker and win? Probably not, given the stakes. Five minutes to be added on.
88 mins: That was Blaise Matuidi at his best, powering forwards and winning a free-kick high up the pitch to take another minute off the clock.
87 mins: Marseille have a free-kick on an angle from the right. Payet – Ligue 1’s top assister (is that the word?) – curls an inswinger towards goal but it’s headed away and PSG break, until Matuidi is closed down by a pack of recovering defenders in white.
84 mins: The fans have been brilliant in the Stade Vélodrome but they are raining down a variety of missiles and preventing Lavezzi from taking the corner. Eventually they relent and the corner is easily cleared away. Not long for Marseille to find something here, they still seem a little shell-shocked from that thunderous start to the second period by PSG.
83 mins: This match is becoming more and more bizarre. Marseille just give up on defending bar two or three who battle on and try to plug the leak as PSG break. They work the ball to Zlatan who elects to shoot from a very tight angle when a pass would have done once more. A moment later the Swede is sent through again amidst more bad defending and Mandanda has to parry the shot over. Corner.
80 mins: Really wasteful from Anderson lookalike Payet, shooting from range with his weaker left foot when a pass would have done. Pastore finally comes off, replaced by Adrien Rabiot who is a central midfielder. Perhaps a reshuffle for PSG, then.
79 mins: Batshuayi gets on the ball... I’ve given him the big buildup... and he repays me by bending a lovely curling ball off the pitch for a throw. “Cavani -Dracula as my girlfriend calls him- is not happy to be replaced?” emails Lucas Amvielle. “Does he realise he’s been invisible tonight?” He hasn’t done much at all but I would say Pastore has done lots of bad things, which must be worse.
76 mins: Still such an open game, and every now and then we are treated to a flurry of chaos in the box which resembles two Sunday league sides scrapping to stay in the cup. The latest ends in a speculative Marseille shot which flies wide.
73 mins: Alessandrini is also on, replacing Ayew for Marseille.
Super Sub time!
71 mins: Michy Batshuayi comes on for Gignac who has been tiring perhaps. The Belgian has been in brilliant form with six goals in his last five games.
69 mins: The game has just settled down a little after PSG’s double hit at the start of the second half. There’s still a very open feel though and the sense that more goals are to come – it’s one of those matches where there don’t seem to be any midfielders, at all.
65 mins: That should have been game over but Pastore’s finishing is wayward again. He was set through by a delicious Verratti pass, and cut from left to right but skewed his shot well wide.
62 mins: It is a pleasure to watch Verratti play sometimes... Today hasn’t really been one of those days but he makes a nice run through the middle nonetheless and passes to Zlatan, whose chip through towards Lavezzi is overhit.
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59 mins: Cavani trudges off and is livid to be replaced by Lavezzi, which he let’s Laurent Blanc know. Blanc totally ignores him.
57 mins: Gignac almost snuck through there but Thiago Silva made an excellent tackle just outside the box. Moments later the French striker has another chance, but spins and fires his volley over the bar.
54 mins: Marseille fans behind the goal call for a penalty for a handball which stopped Gignac’s shot, but in fairness to Marquinhos it came at him from close range and nothing is given.
GOAL! Marseille 2-3 PSG (Morel OG, 51 mins)
Wow. An incredible start to the second half! This time Pastore is slipped in behind Dja Djedje down the left and his cross falls into Ibrahimovic’s path who appears to bundle the ball into the net, although the replay shows it comes off Jeremy Morel.
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GOAL! Marseille 2-2 PSG (Marquinhos, 49 mins)
Ibrahimovic slips as he makes contact and it’s a poor free-kick but the ball falls perfectly for Marquinhos in the six-yard box to poke the ball high into the net.
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48 mins: Free-kick. Zlatan. I would not want to be in this wall...
47 mins: Payet, standing on the same patch of grass where Matuidi bent in PSG’s equaliser, tries to repeat the trick but gets a little too much on his shot and it sails high and wide. Payet looks a little like Manchester United flop Anderson, I think.
Second half kick-off
46 mins: We are back underway and had it not been for Dja Djedje clattering into Ibrahimovic (legally) in the penalty area it would be 2-2 right now. Fast start.
The second half is imminent and the PSG players are out on the pitch, on their own right now. Not sure where Marseille are. While we wait, here’s the best goal ever in this fixture. IT. IS. RIDICULOUS.
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“Hello Lawrence,” emails my saviour Kari Tulinius again with some more on the first goal, almost as though if I didn’t give enough detail. “Marseille has scored. Payet sends a cross in from the right that gets a deflection. Gignac gets to the end of it and powers home a header. Oh, and shortly after that David Luiz pulls up with hamstring problems. Van der Wiel comes on instead. I hope the technical troubles are fixed.”
They are fixed and I am sane again, thanks Kari.
Half-time entertainment
If you have seven minutes to kill on this Easter Sunday, perhaps slumped on the sofa after a roast or an excess of chocolate, sit back and enjoy the genius of Ronaldinho in this fixture in days gone by. In my mind Ronaldinho is the most enjoyable player to watch in the modern era (I came up with that opinion today to generate some emails).
*Warning: at about 4:10 Jerome Leroy ruins a moment of Ronaldinho artistry which if you’re anything like me will make you want to reach into the screen and crush him into mulch, the idiot. Thinking about it Leroy might have been the inspiration for Nani to do this…
Gignac’s finishing was the difference in that first half. Pastore had a near-identical chance to that of Gignac’s second goal at the start of the match but the Argentinian has not been scoring many of late and slashed wide. Gignac, on the other hand, has hauled himself above Ibrahimovic to second in the Ligue 1 goalscoring charts.
Half-time: Marseille 2-1 PSG
Peep! And that’s the break. Thrilling half of football, both teams blowing the trumpet for Ligue 1’s entertainment value.
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45+1 mins: Payet whips in a dangerous cross onto Gignac’s forehead who spears a header at goal, and Sirigu pushes the ball over. Gignac spins away and gees up the crowd, as if they needed it. It’s bedlam in the Stade Vélodrome.
GOAL! Marseille 2-1 PSG (Gignac, 42 mins)
The home side are back in front and it’s that man again. PSG give the ball away in midfield and with one forward pass Gignac is through on goal. He keeps his composure to finish across Sirigu into the corner, his 18th of the campaign ... Gignac is out of contract at the end of the season.
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39 mins: The free-kick is lashed wildly over and everyone can take a breather, which I desperately need due technology-related stress.
37 mins: That goal has momentarily silenced a raucous home crowd, but they are up on their feet again as Payet and Thauvin line up a free-kick around 25 yards out...
GOAL! Marseille 1-1 PSG (Matuidi, 35 mins)
Game on! Matuidi is given the ball in a little space on the edge of the box, shuffles it onto his right foot and bends a beauty around Mandanda and into the far corner.
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GOAL! Marseille 1-0 PSG (Gignac, 30 mins)
Gignac heads home from Payet’s cross (is what we’ve been told). But we’ve got visual now for good, so that’s good.
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More technical issues at Guardian Towers, back with you in a minute after I’ve torn my hair out...
22 mins: Fanni chops down Ibrahimovic with more than a hint of intent. Zlatan makes the most of it and the yellow card is out again.
“In case you didn’t see it,” Kari Tulinius emails, “the game started with a false start. Gignac, I think, ran into the opposition half before PSG had kicked off. Marseille, to say the least, are pumped up for this game. Enjoy the game!”
I didn’t see that; this MBM now feels complete.
18 mins: The champions have a corner of their own and after Mandanda’s initial punch comes chaos, with several players including Ibrahimovic failing to get control of the ball in the area. A moment later Cavani is put through on goal at a tight angle, but the out-of-form forward can’t make any meaningful contact with his attempted volley.
16 mins: The corner is cleared invitingly to Lemina on the edge of the box who skies it a full goal higher than the goal. Terrible effort but the game is bubbling up nicely.
15 mins: Dimitri Payet is standing over a free-kick in a very promising position to the left of the box... but he finds only the wall and slashes the rebound away for a throw. Marseille win it back quickly enough though, and have a corner.
@LawrenceOstlere Bielsa's teams play nice ball but are usually burnt out for the run in which is a shame. PSG should have too much for OM
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) April 5, 2015
11 mins: Whisker! Marseille have a criminally high line and a simple ball forwards puts Pastore in on goal, but the Argetinian forward slashes his shot across Mandanda and a whisker wide of the right-post.
10 mins: Payet is trying to pull the strings in midfield and spreads the ball first right and then left, majestically off the pitch for a PSG goal-kick.
9 mins: Early yellow card for Romao, which looked a little harsh – the Marseille midfielder got a good chunk of ball with his studs.
7 mins: The atmosphere is typically fraught and the players are having to ignore fans throwing all sorts on to the pitch. Cavani and Ibrahimovic both go up for a long ball but both miss and it rolls through to the Marseille captain, Steve Mandanda.
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4 mins: Hooray! We have visual. That was a nightmare. No goals yet.
Peep! The game has kicked off... but our tv feed hasn’t... back in a moment
So Bielsa, who named his team during the week, leaves the very in-form Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi on the bench, but expect to see him later especially if Gignac doesn’t get going. Gianelli Imbula is suspended so Mario Lamina comes in in midfield.
Laurent Blanc picks the team we expected with Lavezzi only making the bench, sitting alongside Cabaye who has not been fully fit.
And here’s our substitutes...
-57e Sur le banc olympien : Samba, Aloé, Nkoulou, Tuiloma, Ocampos, Alessandrini, Batshuayi. #OMPSG
— Olympique Marseille (@OM_Officiel) April 5, 2015
On the bench for PSG: Douchez, Digne, van der Wiel, Cabaye, Rabiot, Bahebeck, Lavezzi #OMPSG
— PSG English (@PSG_English) April 5, 2015
The teams are in...
-58e Le onze de départ de l'OM : Mandanda - Romao, Fanni, Morel - Djadjédjé, Lemina, Mendy - Thauvin, Payet, Ayew - Gignac. #OMPSG
— Olympique Marseille (@OM_Officiel) April 5, 2015
PSG Starting XI vs. Marseille confirmed!!! #OMPSG pic.twitter.com/ttS2ufNNmR
— PSG English (@PSG_English) April 5, 2015
Preamble
Hello team and welcome to Le Classique, a fixture which has not carried such significance since the Qatari billions added a little extra edge to the rivalry. French football’s showpiece could have a major impact on the the destination of the Ligue 1 title in an evermore enthralling season in which Lyon and Monaco are also well-placed at the sharp end of the table.
The arrival of PSG’s wealthy backers has only underlined the old stereotype of the haughty bourgeois Parisians, and one man carries himself with an ideal level of arrogance to play the villain of the piece. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the centre of attention again, and with 17 goals in 21 league games this season he leads the line for Laurent Blanc’s expensively assembled team.
Their hosts on the other hand play the working-class heroes, without the riches but with plenty of resolve and the tireless work ethic of a typical Mario Bielsa side. They too have a leading man to fit the story; André-Pierre Gignac is proud of his Gypsy roots and the type of hussle and bussle striker whose 16 league goals have taken a little longer to acquire, and with a little less grace, but with all the grit and determination of the anti-Zlatan. Who will prevail at the Stade Vélodrome tonight?
Kick-off: 8pm BST
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