Europa League roundup: Marseille earn first win of campaign against AEK Athens
You never quite know what to expect from Marseille under Gennaro Gattuso, so the early stages were widely dominated by plenty of tippy-tappy football, with both sides feeling each other out. Marseille were arguably the brighter of the two, and it was them who settled quicker, carving out the first real sighting of goal midway through the first half.
The Olympians probably wouldn’t have picked anyone other than Iliman Ndiaye for it to fall to, but his wicked strike was repelled at the near post by Cican Stankovic.
Pressure did eventually pay for Marseille, but their opener was shrouded in controversy. The Orange Velodrome erupted when Jonathan Clauss laid the ball on a plate for Vitinha, but there were huge doubts as to whether it would stand with Domagoj Vida left in a heap on the floor. But after a lengthy VAR review, Marseille were given the green light to celebrate.
The home side’s luck really was in with VAR this evening, as another decision went in their favour before the break, with an offside call against Steven Zuber denying AEK from going into the break on level terms.
That only proved to be a temporary reprieve for the hosts though, as AEK finally got some luck of their own after the break. Petros Mantalos’s cut-back found the unmarked Orbelín Pineda, and after his initial miscued strike fell favourably back to his feet, he made no mistake in slamming home the equaliser.
What happened next though, few would’ve predicted. AEK were the masters of their own downfall, and when Cican Stankovic gave the ball away to Vitinha in his own box, not only did he bring him down in the area, he was dismissed for his troubles. They say bad things come in threes, and they did here too as Amine Harit dispatched the resulting penalty.
AEK shot themselves in the foot again shortly after when Nordin Amrabat felled Renan Lodi in the area, with Jordan Veretout the man to dispatch from the spot this time around.
Even with a two-goal cushion, Marseille refused to take their foot off the gas and thought they’d added a fourth through Ismaïla Sarr, but even an offside call couldn’t take the shine off what was an otherwise perfect evening for Marseille in their quest to reach the knockouts.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Vitinha (Marseille)
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Other Europa League results (18:45 CET)
Make sure to click on each link from the game to read our dedicated reports.
Group A
Olympiacos Piraeus 2 West Ham 1
Group C
Group D
Group H
