RC Lens stormed one of the most hostile venues in Europe to snatch a famous 3-2 victory in Marseille. Not even captain Dimitri Payet, who dragged his team back into the game from a two-goal deficit, couldn’t prevent Lens’ second-half goal. In the end, Franck Haise’s men claimed an unexpected victory and overtook Marseille into second spot in the Ligue 1 standings.
Marseille have got a reputation that’s difficult to shake. It’s a reputation of often shooting themselves in the foot. They’ve done precious little to break the proverbial mould in the last match of the eighth Ligue 1 matchday on Sunday night. Playing at home at their noisy Stade Velodrome, the Olympians allowed their visitors Lens from the far north of France to take a two-goal lead before they finally started to actually play some football. An early penalty kick was awarded for a clumsy Pape Gueye handball and Florian Sotoca made no mistake from the spot to give the visitors a shocking lead.
The Marseilles were looking down and out when Polish winger Przemyslw Frankowski produced a moment of magic to find the top corner with a magnificent curling shot before half an hour of play was gone.But then Marseille’s most influential player Dimitri Payet got down and dirty to single-handedly drag his team back into the contest. Payet scored one of his trademark free kicks five minutes after Frankowski’s strike and gave the home fans hope that their team might actually turn up and face the rampant visitors. A penalty kick conversion from the home side’s captain in first-half added time to make it 2-2 and ensure another 45 minutes of drama in France’s second-largest city.
But the pesky visitors didn’t read the script and kept on coming strong in their attempts to spoil the night for home team. Sotoca turned provider this time as he delivered a pinpoint cross onto the head of Wesley Said, who expertly found the far corner, leaving the helpless goalkeeper Pau Lopez to fish the ball out of his net yet again.The third blow proved crucial as Jorge Sampaoli’s men couldn’t find a way back again. All their attacks in the final 20 minutes proved feeble and the Lensois held onto their lead with some ease to claim the points.LIGUE 1 – Round 8SaturdaySaint-Etienne – Nice 0-3 (0-1)/Gouiri 15, Stengs 54, Delort 83/Strasbourg – Lille 1-2 (0-1)/Sissoko 75 – David 23, 57 pen/Lyon v Lorient 1-1 (0-1)/Ekambi 50 – Lauriente 20/Paris Saint-Germain v Montpellier 2-0 (1-0)/Gueye 14, Draxler 89/SundayBordeaux – Rennes 1-1 (0-0)/Mexer 89 – Laborde 56/Brest – Metz 1-2 (0-1)/Faivre 68 pen – De Preville 26, Centonze 74/Troyes – Angers 1-1 (1-0)/Balde 22 – Mangani 65 pen/Reims – Nantes 3-1 (0-0)/Foket 51, Ekitike 72, 78 – Simon 62/Clermont – Monaco 1-3 (1-1)/Bayo 7 – Ben Yedder 26, Volland 48, Diop 90+1/Olympique Marseille – Lens 2-3 (2-2)/Payet 33, 45+2 pen – Sotoca 9 pen, Frankowski 27, Said 71/