It’s a draw that will hurt the heads of the Marseillais very badly. After a slap at home against PSG (0-3), then against Annecy in the Coupe de France (2-2, 7-6 on penalties), it was another complicated evening that the Phocaeans went through at the Vélodrome. this Sunday. However, OM had shown character. OM scored two shorthanded goals after Leonardo Balerdi was sent off half an hour into the game. But OM cracked.
Igor Tudor’s men seemed to dominate their subject, with a goal from Chancel Mbemba (1-0, 49th) and a penalty from Alexis Sanchez (2-0, 76th), before a goal from Jean-Eudes Aholou on corner does not raise everything (2-1, 88th). In a confused situation, the Strasbourg player scored an almost lucky goal, thanks to a top shot that lobbed Pau Lopez. But his second achievement, a minute later, was no coincidence. With a superb half-volley at the entrance to the surface, from the outside of the left foot, the Ivorian propelled the ball into the back of the net, hitting the Marseille bar (2-2, 89th).
Jean-Eudes Aholou could even have offered himself a hat-trick in the following seconds but Pau Lopez pushed back his shot with a reflex of the hand (90 + 1). He would then have gone down in history. After a double in 84 seconds, his possible hat-trick would indeed have erased that of Loïs Openda, a few hours earlier with Lens in Clermont (0-4). The Lensois striker had thus scored a hat-trick in just 4 minutes and 30 seconds, the fastest hat-trick in Ligue 1 for 50 years.
“You had to believe it, smiled Jean-Eudes Aholou after the meeting, at the microphone of Prime Video. We are here to give that kind of emotion. “We don’t have the right to take those two goals,” regretted Jordan Verretout.
For Strasbourg, it’s a draw that almost tastes like a victory. On the Marseille side, it is rather two points lost, which allow Lens to return to only two lengths from second place. A victory would also have allowed the Phocaeans to widen the gap with Monaco, defeated at home by the astonishing Stade de Reims of the phenomenon Will Still (0-1).
A complicated evening from start to finish for OM since even before kick-off, the supporters were already making their frustration known. “Refusal to communicate. Malpractice in the Champions League and the Coupe de France… Should we settle for a title in 30 years? “, could we read on banners brandished in the stands. Stands sparse in places, a sign of a craze that has taken a hit in recent weeks in Marseille.