Lorient lose to Marseille after playing 80 minutes a man down

Lorient fought an uphill battle against Marseille, losing 4-0 having only ten men for 80’ of the game at the Stade Velodrome. Lorient were lucky not to be down to 9 thanks to VAR intervention.

The tie swung in Marseilles favour in the 9’ after Murillo was brought down in the box by Yongwa, who wrapped his arm around the fullback to pull him down. The referee deemed this a red card offence and dismissed the wing back.

Mason Greenwood, who was arrested in 2022 by Greater Manchester Police for rape, tucked home the penalty to open the scoring. The lead was doubled by Pavard who headed home a corner in the 21’.

It was a great day for new signings, as Gomes volleyed home a soft clearance on the edge of the box to make the lead 3-0 and earn him his first goal for the club. Gomes tipped up the bouncing ball for himself and volleyed it with the outside of his boot and swung it past the outstretched keeper into the top left corner.

Meite was extremely lucky to escape dismissal in the 37’, launching himself into Gouiri and catching him in the neck, injuring the player in the process and forcing his substitution. Despite the severity of the injury, and the ridiculousness of the challenge, upon VAR review Gouiri was deemed offside meaning no penalty was given and no booking either, a very lucky escape for Meite.

The second half calmed down initially, with a game of cat and mouse taking place. Marseille would control the ball and prod at the highly compact defence whilst Lorient would look to break at pace and commit as few men as possible to each attack.

Goalkeeper Mvogo pulled off an incredible save to limit the damage, as Nadir reversed a cross back to Greenwood to head it in on the edge of the 6 yard box, but somehow the goalkeeper leaped and managed to turn the header round the post for a corner.

A long range strike from Aguerd took a very heavy deflection with a minute left of added time to make it 4-0, leaving the keeper with no chance of making a save. This made it the third player to score their first goal for the club.

Marsellie dominated the ball and the game, with full backs and wingers constantly running at defender. Lorient seemed to just be holding on to dear life for a large part of the game.