Mbappe surname strikes again in France — Kylian’s brother knocks Marseille off top spot

Offered, as if honored! Olympique Marseille. Twice, within a span of six days, they had the chance to climb to the top of the national championship, and twice they failed to take it. In a league dominated by the reigning champions of Europe, the question is whether they’ll get another opportunity at all.

And it’s hard to say what deserves more criticism: what happened in the previous round against Toulouse, when they conceded a goal in stoppage time and dropped the win, or tonight’s performance, when they didn’t take a single shot on target for 75 minutes.

They did have one off-target attempt, when Emerson fumbled something near the end of the first half. And that was it. Literally until the final 15 minutes, when they finally woke up—far too late. Greenwood had an 80-meter run with the ball, dribbling past several opponents all the way into the box, but Auzer saved his one-on-one. Then, three minutes later, the Lille goalkeeper stopped Kondogbia’s long-range effort.

Lille didn’t exactly enjoy much football either; it was a total snooze-fest for 75 minutes. But at least they had an early lead and the luxury of not rushing anything. It was yet another terrible defensive reaction from Marseille, similar to the one during the collapse against Toulouse. A long ball from Bentaleb, goalkeeper Rulli came out for no reason, Ethan Mbappe picked up the ball and sent it into the empty net. The goal is HERE!

This is Lille’s fourth straight win in all competitions—perfect timing, as they hit form right after visiting Red Star. They’ve now drawn level with tonight’s opponent, sharing third place in the standings, one point behind PSG and two behind Lens. It’s crowded at the top—hasn’t been this tight in the French top flight for a long time…

LIGUE 1 ROUND 14

Friday

Brest - Monaco 1-0 (1-0)

/Doumbia 28/

Lille - Olympique Marseille 1-0 (1-0)

/Mbappe 10/

Saturday

19.00: (5.00) Nantes (3.90) Lens (1.70)

21.00: (2.55) Toulouse (3.45) Strasbourg (2.90)

23.05: (1.33) PSG (5.90) Rennes (9.50)

Sunday

17.00: (2.00) Nice (3.45) Angers (3.80)

19.15: (2.05) Auxerre (3.50) Metz (3.90)

19.15: (2.80) Le Havre (3.05) Paris (2.70)

22.45: (3.35) Lorient (3.40) Olympique Lyon (2.30)

***odds are subject to change***