PARIS: Club-record signing Vitinha scored his first two goals for Marseille as the southern club beat struggling Troyes 3-1 to move one point above Lens and into second place in the French league on Sunday.
Marseille paid Portuguese club Braga 32 million euros ($34.8 million) for Vitinha in the January transfer window, but the 23-year-old player had not scored in his eight previous appearances since joining.
He took only two minutes to put Marseille ahead against Lorient at Stade Velodrome when he turned neatly and hit a shot under the crossbar.
Turkiye winger Cengiz Ünder made it 2-0 in the 41st minute after captain Valentin Rongier won the ball and set him up, and Vitinha tapped home in the 64th after defender Sead Kolasinac’s header against the post from a corner.
It was a relief for a Marseille side which has the best away form in the league, but had not won any of its last five league games at Stade Velodrome.
Earlier Sunday, Monaco pressured Marseille with a 3-1 home win over Lorient.
Monaco remains in fourth place, three points behind Marseille and two behind third-place Lens, in the race for a Champions League spot next season.
Second place secures automatic qualification and third earns a spot in the qualifying rounds.
Midfielders Krépin Diatta and Aleksandr Golovin scored in the first half for Monaco. Forward Kevin Volland made it 3-0 early in the second half before striker Ibrahima Koné replied for Lorient with a late penalty.
Meanwhile, Lille won 2-1 at home to Montpellier to reclaim fifth place from Rennes in the chase for a Europa League spot.
Montpellier led through defender Issiaga Sylla’s goal midway through the first half. Lille equalized in the 70th thanks to Jonathan David’s 20th league goal. It moved the Canada striker level at the top of the scoring charts with Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappé. Veteran winger Remy Cabella hit the winner for Lille three minutes later.
OTHER MATCHES
Auxerre eased its relegation worries by beating French Cup finalist Nantes 2-1 at home to move up to 14th place.
Nantes is 15th and only two points above the relegation zone. Coach Antoine Kombouaré was scathing about the attitude of his players, claiming their minds were on the cup final against Toulouse on April 29.
“Today the players weren’t concerned about staying up ... they prefer that we’re in a mess before they wake up,” he told match broadcaster Amazon.
Kombouaré also used an expletive to describe his team.
Veteran striker Kevin Gameiro was among the scorers as Strasbourg beat 19th-place Ajaccio 3-1, but stayed in the relegation zone in 17th because Brest beat midtable Nice 1-0 at home to remain 16th.
Midtable Clermont beat last-place Angers 2-1 at home.
On Saturday, Mbappé’s goal in leader PSG’s 3-1 home win against Lens made him PSG’s all-time leading scorer in the league with 139 goals.
Record signing Vitinha starts scoring for Marseille
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Record signing Vitinha starts scoring for Marseille
- Monaco remains in fourth place, three points behind Marseille and two behind third-place Lens, in the race for a Champions League spot next season
Holders PSG, Real Madrid among clubs awaiting Champions League play-offs draw
- The draw for the knockout stage play-offs takes place on Friday
- Europe’s elite club competition is now more bloated than ever since the expansion last season to 36 teams in the Champions League proper
PARIS: Title-holders Paris Saint-Germain and record 15-time winners Real Madrid are among the European giants who will have to come through the play-off round of this season’s Champions League after missing out on direct qualification for the last 16.
The draw for the knockout stage play-offs takes place on Friday from 1100 GMT after the league phase concluded on Wednesday with the eighth and final round of games.
There was real drama on the last night, in particular in Lisbon where Jose Mourinho’s Benfica beat his former side Real 4-2, goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scoring a 98th-minute goal that allowed the Portuguese giants to snatch the last spot in the play-offs and nudged their opponents out of the top eight.
Europe’s elite club competition is now more bloated than ever since the expansion last season to 36 teams in the Champions League proper.
That means 144 matches are now required to eliminate just 12 teams, with the top eight in the overall standings going through to the last 16 and the next 16 teams advancing to the play-offs.
At the end of it all, there are few real surprises, with the top 17 berths all occupied by clubs from the so-called big five European leagues of England (six), Spain (three), Italy (three), Germany (three) and France (PSG), with one exception in Portuguese giants Sporting.
Some big names did fall by the wayside, with Italian champions Napoli being bundled out along with three former champions in Marseille, PSV Eindhoven and Ajax. Athletic Bilbao, Villarreal and Eintracht Frankfurt were eliminated too.
The play-offs take place over two legs in February, with the eight winners completing the line-up for the last 16.
- Bodo/Glimt, Qarabag the surprises -
The most remarkable achievements in reaching the play-offs belong to Qarabag — the champions of Azerbaijan who advanced despite losing 6-0 to Liverpool in their final outing — and, above all, Bodo/Glimt.
Champions of Norway in four of the last six years, the outfit from north of the Arctic Circle beat Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in their last two matches to go through — despite their domestic season finishing at the end of November.
“We should be extremely proud,” said their coach Kjetil Knutsen, and Bodo/Glimt can now look forward to a glamor tie against either Real or last season’s beaten finalists Inter Milan.
The other possible tie for Madrid is an immediate rematch with Benfica, while other potential match-ups on Friday include PSG having to face domestic rivals Monaco and Borussia Dortmund having to play Bayer Leverkusen in all-Bundesliga showdown.
“We will have to take the long route, but I don’t think anyone else can be considered favorites more than us,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique of having to face an extra knockout tie, mindful that doing so last year did not stop the French side from going on to win the title.
“We deserve to be in this situation today,” admitted Real star Kylian Mbappe after his side’s loss in Lisbon saw them drop into the play-offs.
“Now we have to play two more play-off games. It hurts to have to play those, we wanted to have the time in February to work on our game.”
Real came through the play-offs last season, beating Manchester City before eventually losing to Arsenal in the quarter-finals.
This time City are one of their potential opponents in the last 16 in March, along with Sporting, should they make it through the play-offs.
Meanwhile, PSG already know they will play either Barcelona or Chelsea in the last 16, assuming they reach that stage — the Parisians beat Barcelona away earlier this season but lost to Chelsea in the Club World Cup final last July.
Arsenal, having finished first in the league phase, will take on one of Dortmund, Leverkusen, Atalanta or Olympiacos in the last 16.
Champions League knockout phase play-off draw teams
Seeded: Real Madrid (ESP), Inter Milan (ITA), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Newcastle United (ENG), Juventus (ITA), Atletico Madrid (ESP), Atalanta (ITA), Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
Unseeded: Borussia Dortmund (GER), Olympiacos (GRE), Club Brugge (BEL), Galatasaray (TUR), Monaco (FRA), Qarabag (AZE), Bodo/Glimt (NOR), Benfica (POR)
