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Marseille registered their first point of the season after holding Lyon to a 1-1 draw in a pulsating match at the Stade Vélodrome on Sunday.
After a rip-roaring start, Taye Taiwo gave Marseille the lead as early as the fifth minute and for a while it looked as though Jean Fernandez's side could cause a major upset. But Lyon struck back through John Carew later in the first half and secured a well-earned draw which moves them third in the table. Marseille, meanwhile, climb off the bottom with a point from three games.
The home team began in dramatic fashion, with Franck Ribéry and Wilson Oruma breaking forward from midfield at every opportunity. The Marseille fans were adamant that their team should have been awarded a penalty on four minutes when Mamadou Niang crumpled to the floor under a challenge from Cris, but the referee waved play on.
The fast, furious action continued and Mahamadou Diarra was forced to bring Ribéry down in full flight seconds later. Taiwo then had the Vélodrome on its feet when he crashed the resulting free kick past Grégory Coupet and into the net, albeit with the help of a deflection off Florent Malouda.
After witnessing their team's shocking start to the season, the long-suffering Marseille fans were all of a sudden in celebratory mood. The noise was deafening as Niang broke clear again in the eighth minute, only to take too long over shooting. The loose ball nevertheless broke for Andres Mendoza but his shot was brilliantly parried by Coupet.
The champions were rattled, and Benoit Pedretti, who recently joined Lyon from Marseille, was struggling to get a grip in the midfield – much to the amusement of the supporters.
Marseille were never likely to sustain that pace, however, and Lyon’s class eventually started to tell. After resisting further damage, Lyon drew level with their first chance of the game 10 minutes before the break.
Anthony Réveillère released Sidney Govou on the right, he spotted Carew’s run ahead of Frédéric Déhu and played a pinpoint pass into the Norwegian’s feet. Carew made no mistake, placing a neat finish past Cédric Carrasso for his third goal in as many matches. He nearly had another one just before the break, this time heading Govou’s corner past Carrasso only to see it cleared off the line by a well-placed Habib Beye.
For all Marseille’s huff and puff, it was Lyon who looked the more dangerous side after the break. On 52 minutes, Malouda set up Juninho Pernambucano, making his first start of the season, but the Brazilian’s screaming drive flew over the bar.
Either side could have won the contest, though, and Marseille thought their luck was in 12 minutes before the end. Substitute Laurent Batlles struck a crisp shot which was deflected goalwards by the head of Claudio Caçapa. The net rippled, but to the dismay of the hopeful Marseille fans, the ball had merely brushed the sidenetting of Coupet’s goal.
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