As in Monaco, Olympique de Marseille started strong against Brighton, even leading 2-0 at half-time, before conceding a draw in the second half (2-2).
Olympique de Marseille can no longer win. Beaten in Monaco (3-2) after opening the score in the first minute, the Phocaeans this time conceded a draw against Brighton (2-2) in the Europa League, after quickly taking a two-goal lead.
For Gennaro Gattuso’s first at the Stade Vélodrome, OM started perfectly by scoring twice in two minutes, in comparable actions, crosses from the right taken from the penalty spot. It was first Jonathan Clauss who celebrated his recall to the French team by finding Chancel Mbemba (1-0, 19th), then Amine Harit took advantage of an error from Lewis Dunk to offer the break goal to Jordan Veretout (2-0, 20th).
OM has cracked again
But for this OM who is still convalescing, a margin of two goals is not enough at the moment. We understood this at the end of the first period, with two first alerts dismissed by Pau Lopez (42nd, 45th+1). We had confirmation of this in the second half, with the reduction of the gap signed by Pascal Gross (2-1, 55th). The start of the second act was tough for the Olympians who lost Jordan Veretout to a muscular injury, while Amine Harit and Joaquin Correa took blows.
OM fell back a lot again, and if Vitinha had a nice 3-1 ball against (66th), there was more danger in the other area (73rd, 86th). And it was finally the unfortunate Clauss, yet author of a good match once again, who stepped on Lamptey’s foot and offered the equalizing penalty to Joao Pedro (2-2, 88th).
Too bad for OM, who hoped to achieve their first success since August 26, and who could have taken the lead of the group with AEK Athens, but the Phocaeans still showed shortcomings on the physical level, which is a problem that Gattuso will not be able to solve in a single match. It would be better to win on Sunday against Le Havre to have a quieter international break…
