PLAYER RATINGS | Marseille 2-0 Nice: Neal Maupay fires Roberto De Zerbi’s side top of Ligue 1 | OneFootball

Ligue 1 McDonald’s, Round 4, 14/09/24

Olympique de Marseille beat OGC Nice (2-0) in the Derby du Sud thanks to goals from Neal Maupay and Luis Henrique, which sends Roberto De Zerbi’s side provisionally top of Ligue 1.

The Match

Pre-match, the focus was on two players: Neal Maupay and Jonathan Clauss. The former, a Nice academy product, could have returned to his formative club this summer, however, Les Aiglons’ hierarchy bemoaned a lack of funds to pull off the deal. Instead, he joined rivals Marseille and in the absence of Elye Wahi, he would earn his first start for OM.

Clauss left OM for Nice earlier in the summer. There is no love lost between the France international and Les Phocéens’ fan base and it showed when he came out to warm up at the Vélodrome to a cacophony of boos. Whilst Clauss, despite putting in a professional, faultless performance couldn’t dictate the result of this fiery encounter, Maupay could.

The former Everton and Brentford forward had the ball in the net in the 36th minute. It was a well-taken finish, however, he was clearly offside in the build-up. However, he would get his goal just minutes later, getting on the end of Henrique’s deflected cross, having inexplicably lost his marker, Youssouf Ndayishimiye.

They went in ahead at the break, although they didn’t necessarily deserve to be. Nice had counteracted Marseille well, creating chances of their own. Unfortunately for Le Gym most fell to Evann Guessand, profligate on the day, whilst Melvin Bard struck the post with a thunderous volley.

Geronimo Rully was lucky on a couple of occasions too. One of his spills was pounced on by Pablo Rosario, but from close range, he couldn’t finish. A combination of Rully’s side and the post kept the ball out. Minutes later, Nice found themselves two goals behind thanks to a spectacular curling finish from Henrique. The former outcast has become crucial under De Zerbi’s tutelage.

Nice continued to push, continued to create chances, and got a boost after Derek Cornelius was sent off for two yellow cards within 10 minutes. The second was awarded for time wasting. Les Aiglons should have got a goal back, either through Youssoufa Moukoko, who missed an open net, or from the spot, but Mason Greenwood’s pull on debutant Ali Abdi was not penalised.

It was a brave attempt to earn a point from the volcano that is the Vélodrome, but Marseille took their chances. Nice did not, and that was the difference as Les Phocéens went top of Ligue 1, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain’s encounter against Stade Brestois later on Saturday evening.

Marseille player ratings

Geronimo Rulli – 3

An error-strewn performance from the Argentine, but one that was not punished. His inability to keep hold of the ball from crosses and from shots was noted but wasn’t capitalised on. On another day, his errors could have cost OM.

Valentin Rongier – 4

Derek Cornelius – 5

Lilian Brassier – 3

Michael Murillo – 5

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – 4

Geoffrey Kondogbia – 5

Luis Henrique – 8

The forward had been an outcast, however, he is reborn under De Zerbi and playing comfortably his best football since arriving at the Vélodrome. A goal and assist was a just reward for another strong performance.

Amine Harit – 5

Mason Greenwood – 5

Neal Maupay – 7

The former Everton man, on his home debut, troubled the Nice defenders with his movement, was incisive with his distribution, and got the all-important opener.

Nice player ratings

Marcin Bulka – 4

Dante – 5

Mohamed Abdelmonem – 4

Youssouf Ndayishimiye – 3

Overall, not an outstandingly poor performance and in possession in particular, he was proficient, however, his error on Marseille’s opener, inexplicably losing Maupay on the six-yard box, was costly.

Melvin Bard – 6

Tanguy Ndombele – 4

Pablo Rosario – 4

Jonathan Clauss – 5

Jérémie Boga – 5

Evann Guessand – 3

A highly frustrating afternoon for Guessand, whose decision-making was poor, whose touch was sloppy, and who was guilty of squandering Nice’s best chances. Despite a brace against Angers in his last game for Le Gym, finishing remains the Ivory Coast international’s outstanding weakness. His strengths in other facets of his game usually make up for that, but they weren’t on show against OM.

Mohamed-Ali Cho – 6

GFFN | Luke Entwistle