Marseille continued their unbeaten start to the Ligue 1 season after a late Nicolas Pallois own goal gave them a 2-1 win over Nantes at the Velodrome on Saturday. Alexis Sanchez made his home debut following his recent arrival in Marseille but the Chilean had been substituted by the time the game came to life in the final quarter. An attempted shot by Jonathan Clauss broke to Chancel Mbemba in the box, and the Congolese former Newcastle United defender prodded home to put Marseille ahead 20 minutes from time.2 – Marseille have won each of their first two home games of a Ligue 1 season (4-1 v Reims and 2-1 v Nantes) for the first time since 2012/13 under Elie Baup (2nd at the end). Foundation. #OMFCNA pic.twitter.com/3APmNTQFuj— OptaJean (@OptaJean) August 20, 2022 Yet the home side, who had already seen Brazilian international midfielder Gerson hobble off with an apparent calf injury, then had Samuel Gigot sent off for a second yellow card for hauling Mostafa Mohamed to the ground and conceding a penalty. Ludovic Blas smashed in the spot-kick to equalize for Nantes with 12 minutes left, only for Marseille’s 10 men to score the winner in the 82nd minute. Sanchez had gone off, but Dimitri Payet had come on and his shot deflected off Pallois and looped up into the air, falling for fellow substitute Luis Suarez to head towards goal.Not everything is peachy in Monte CarloThe ball then went in off the face of Pallois to make it 2-1, and Marseille — whose new coach Igor Tudor has been jeered by supporters before both home matches so far this season — has seven points out of a possible nine.”For sure it was not a boring game. In the end it was a victory of character, of will to win and of our quality” former Croatia defender Tudor, speaking in English, told broadcaster Canal Plus.© Agence France-PresseLIGUE 1 – MATCHDAY 3FridayLyon – Troyes 4-1 (1-1)/Lacazette 3, Tagliafico 47, Tete 49, 75 – Tardieu 39/SaturdayMonaco – Lens 1-4 (1-2)/Badiashile 41 – Openda 7, Machado 38, Fofana 55 pen, Said 78/Olympique Marseille – Nantes 2-1 (0-0)/Mbemba 70, Pallios (og) 82 – Blas 78/Sunday 14.00: (1.85) Strasbourg (3.50) Reims (5.00)16.00: (3.80) Clermont (3.50) Nice (2.10)16.00: (2.20) Montpellier (3.35) Auxerre (3.35)16.00: (2.05) Toulouse (3.50) Lorient (3.90)16.00: (2.45) Angers (3.30) Brest (3.15)18.05: (1.45) Rennes (4.50) Ajaccio (8.50)21.45: (6.75) Lille (4.40) PSG (1.48)***odds are subject to change
