|
Marseille jumped up to fifth in Ligue 1 thanks to Mamadou Niang's winner against former club Strasbourg.
The Alsace outfit drop back to bottom spot as a result, but they exploded out of the blocks and almost took the lead when Alexander Farnerud struck post on five minutes with Fabien Barthez stranded. Abd Rabo Hosni was in particularly fine form for the hosts and they had Marseille in trouble all through the first half, with Farnerud back to oblige Barthez into making a save and Amara Diané heading wide from a corner.
With playmaker Franck Ribéry out through suspension, the visitors were struggling to build any kind of move, and ex-Strasbourg ace Niang continually found himself caught in offside positions. It was a tepid performance from the Mediterranean club, and they were perhaps fortunate to escape a penalty when Diané was brought down in the area by Bostjan Cesar on 39 minutes.
The second period kicked off according to the same pattern, yet from nowhere Jean Fernandez's charges opened the scoring when Niang for once beat the offside trap and slid the ball past Nicolas Puydebois. Despite the goal coming against the run of play, practically half the stadium stood up to applaud their one-time favourite, and he nearly added a second on 69 minutes, only for Puydebois to turn his effort clear.
Strasbourg were fading fast, a point proved by Samir Nasri when he raced clear and let off a shot that Puydebois again did exceptionally well to keep out. Alexander Farnerud had a last-gasp chance to tie the scores, yet his shot was well saved by Barthez and Marseille held on to record their first win at the Stade de la Meinau since 1998.
|
