PLAYER RATINGS | Marseille 2-2 Monaco: Marseille fail to take advantage of nine-man Monaco
Despite neither Olympique de Marseille nor AS Monaco being in the Champions League positions before the start of this match, these occasions between the two titans of the French game always feel vital to the race for European football. A draw was a result that neither side wanted, as it allowed the Champions League places to slip just a bit further away, as the hunting pack around them gained more ground.
Monaco pushed forward from the first whistle as they looked for a fast start, which was duly delivered when Aleksandr Golovin lifted the ball over the retreating Marseille backline and into Wissam Ben Yedder’s path. The striker shot cleanly to open the scoring and put the visitors in the ascendency from the 7th minute.
Only three minutes later, Guillermo Maripán was judged to have brought down the last man, Vitinha, and was shown a straight red for the act. Marseille who had until this point only attacked through a few rare transitions, were now provided with the majority of the ball, as their guests switched focus to defend and frustrate.
The hosts lost Jonathan Clauss to add to their already pronounced selection crisis as Emran Soglo was brought on for only his fifth professional appearance. Before finding some luck, Vitinha came close as his shot trickled into the post, where Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was waiting and ready to finish the effort and level the scores.
Despite Marseille’s newfound dominance, Monaco recovered the lead with the last touch of the half. Aubameyang lost the ball on the edge of the visitor’s box, where Ben Yedder stole forward and combined with Maghnes Akliouche to go ahead into the break.
The second half did not let up on the excitement as Leonardo Balerdi levelled the scores with a
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