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A late goal from Franck Ribéry sealed a 1-0 win for Marseille against their southern rivals Nice on Sunday.
Nice dominated the game for long periods, but struggled to create clear chances and were eventually caught out by Ribéry's strike 16 minutes before the end. The victory lifts Marseille up to ninth in the standings, while Nice are two points behind them now in 13th place.
Playing his last game before the return of Fabien Barthez from suspension, Marseille’s young goalkeeper Cédric Carrasso gave a good account of himself once again, as Marseille were made to soak up pressure against Nice.
The youth-team graduate was alert in the fifth minute when he pushed Cédric Varrault’s goalbound header to safety after slack marking from a corner.
Nice seemed more motivated than the visitors early on, winning virtually every loose ball in midfield and trying to move play forward to utilise the pace of Baraky Koné whenever possible. The Ivory Coast international broke clear for the first time after 25 minutes but his shot from the right side of the penalty area was expertly saved by Carrasso.
There were few chances for either side in the first period, with Marseille managing just one effort on goal - Sabri Lamouchi trying his luck from long range on 35 minutes, only to see Damien Grégorini tip the shot round his post for a corner.
Mamadou Niang was all too often isolated in the Marseille attack, with Ribéry and Wilson Oruma struggling to find time in a crowded midfield.
Nice continued to press in the second half and went close to opening the scoring on 56 minutes when Sébastien Roudet raced onto Florent Balmont’s perfectly-weighted pass and fired a cross-shot narrowly wide of the far post.
Marseille Coach Jean Fernandez, seemingly unprepared to settle for a point, replaced Portuguese midfielder José Delfim with a second forward Christian Gimenez on 57 minutes.
The arrival of the Argentinian target man gave OM more of a physical presence in the final third and they were soon on the front foot.
Oruma was presented with his first shooting chance but failed to connect well enough to trouble Grégorini. Marseille had more luck in the 74th minute, however. Taye Taiwo struck a powerful free kick through the Nice wall and, though Grégorini pushed the ball out, Ribéry was on hand to smash it into the empty net.
Nice seemed deflated by the goal, having enjoyed the better of the encounter on the whole, and Marseille duly clung on to claim an important victory.
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