Paris Saint-Germain twice came from behind to edge bitter rivals Marseille in Le Classique last night and return to the top of Ligue 1.
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Andre Pierre Gignac scored a brace for the home side, but the goals were cancelled out first by Blaise Matuidi and then Marquinhos before Jeremy Morel put through his own net to settle the contest in PSG’s favour.
The win sees PSG move one point clear of Lyon at the top of the table and leaves Marseille in third, five points behind the pace setters.
PSG now 1 ahead of Lyon and 5 ahead of OM, who are now just 3 ahead of Monaco, who have a game in hand (though far inferior goal diff).
— FFW (@FrenchFtWeekly) April 5, 2015
PSG received a typically hostile reception on arrival at the Stade Velodrome, with objects thrown at the team bus leaving a hole in one of the windows. And it did not take long for things to heat up on the pitch either, with Dimitri Payet’s ambitious volley flying high and wide as missiles rained down on the pitch.
PSG responded and when Javier Pastore escaped through on goal from Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s through ball, it seemed the Argentine would open the scoring but he dragged his shot inches wide of the left post as a relieved Marcelo Bielsa looked on.
The Marseille coach’s relief soon turned to joy, though, when on the half-hour mark Gignac rose above Marquinhos to power a header beyond Salvatore Sirigu from the lively Payet’s deflected cross.
PSG’s evening went from bad to worse moments after when defender David Luiz limped off but, in a matter of seconds, the current champions equalised in stunning fashion as Matuidi took possession 18 yards out before bending a sublime effort beyond Steve Mandanda.
Laurent Blanc’s side could not hold until the interval, though, and when Romao released Gignac through on goal, Marseille’s top scorer kept his nerve to fire the hosts into a half-time lead.
Superb reaction from PSG in second half. Showed real character & mental toughness. Marseille needed Bielsa to change things up & he didn’t.
— Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip) April 5, 2015
However, shortly after the restart PSG turned the game on its head in a matter of minutes. First Ibrahimovic’s mis-hit freekick found its way to Marquinhos, who poked home from close range to level, before the talismanic Swede forced Morel to put the ball beyond his own keeper from Pastore’s deflected cross.
Chances continued to come thick and fast for both sides as Gignac sent a volley-on-the-turn whizzing over the bar at one end while at the other Ibrahimovic should have done better with a header before Matuidi saw his seemingly goalbound effort kept out by the boot of Mandanda.
PSG were looking the more likely to score again as the latter stages approached and Pastore and then Ibrahimovic almost added a fourth.
