Ligue 1: Marseille overcomes Auxerre, their bogey team from last year

Without shining, deprived of many starters and reduced to 10 men at the hour mark, Marseille returned to winning ways on Saturday with a 1-0 victory in Auxerre, during the 11th round of Ligue 1. Thanks to a goal from Angel Gomes (30th minute) and despite the sending off of Ulisses Garcia (65th minute), the Phocaeans secured the essentials and occupy alone second place in the standings, two points behind Paris Saint-Germain.

Marseille were on a three-match winless streak, having lost to Lens (2-1) and Sporting Lisbon (2-1), and drawn against Angers (2-2), and needed to bounce back before hosting Atalanta Bergamo on Wednesday. While Roberto De Zerbi's men didn't exactly shine in terms of their play, they managed to address the defensive weaknesses that had plagued them recently.

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Thanks in particular to solid defensive positioning and several saves from goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, Marseille recorded their first clean sheet since their 4-0 victory in Metz at the beginning of October. The Olympians were aided in this by an Auxerre side that was not only toothless but also ineffective in both penalty areas. The Burgundy side, who suffered their third consecutive defeat, are seventeenth and in the relegation zone.

On Angel Gomes' goal, scored from a cross delivered on the right by Amir Murillo, which goalkeeper Donovan Leon couldn't effectively intercept, the Auxerre defense truly lacked commitment. With a busy schedule including a Champions League match on Wednesday and a home game against Brest on Saturday in the league, De Zerbi had opted to rest several regular starters or leave them on the bench, such as Paixao and Mason Greenwood.

He was also, and above all, without seven injured players: Leonardo Balerdi, Facundo Medina, Timothy Weah, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Bilal Nadir, Hamed Junior Traoré, and Amine Gouiri. Despite this, OM, with 60% possession in the first hour before Garcia's sending-off, controlled a match in which there were very few chances and even few genuine attacking opportunities, even though Auxerre pressed forward with a numerical advantage. Nevertheless, the Marseille players should have shown more composure.

Conversely, they appeared shaky, as evidenced by the four yellow cards received by Angel Gomes, Emerson Palmieri, Matt O'Riley, and Robinio Vaz in the first half alone, while Ulisses Garcia was sent off for a challenge on Ibrahim Osman that was more spectacular than dangerous (65th minute). Trailing, Auxerre tried to get back into the game in the second half but without seriously troubling a well-organized Marseille side. Dany Namaso thought he had equalized, but his goal was disallowed for offside, even though goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli had clearly come out to deny Osman (59th minute).

Auxerre missed another chance to equalize when Namaso's header was saved by Rulli after a cross from Osman (76th minute). Ultimately, it wasn't enough to break down Marseille, who won comfortably, relying on clinical finishing with one goal from two shots on target.