Marseilles (AFP)

Olympique de Marseille regret the victory against Bordeaux (3-1) on Saturday for the 7th day of Ligue 1, an excellent appetizer before returning to the Champions League on Wednesday.

After four unsuccessful matches, OM was reassured thanks to a skylight strike from Florian Thauvin (5th) and a nearly double from Jordan Amavi, who scored with a lobed header (54th) then caused a goal against his Pablo camp (64th).

With this first victory at the Vélodrome of the season, OM regained certainty before heading to Piraeus on Wednesday to face Olympiakos, their first C1 match in seven years.

In the league, Marseille goes back to 5th place while awaiting Sunday's results, but is assured of a good operation since the six clubs in front of him at the dawn of this day are competing two by two.

Bordeaux, who scored late in the match by Josh Maja (83rd), is 10th, despite the first start of his only - and late - rookie Hatem Ben Arfa.

The championship's co-best defense was shattered.

André Villas-Boas will be able to draw many positive lessons from this match, where he launched his latest recruits, Michaël Cuisance, very good, and Luis Henrique, who entered at the end of the match in place of Dario Benedetto (84th).

The Olympian coach had assured that there was only one click missing to regain confidence, a 3-1 against Bordeaux looks like it.

This time his team played better, in a new 4-4-2 system with an attacking duo Thauvin-Benedetto who still has to perfect their understanding, like this action where they do not go to the end of the one -two (50th).

- Cuisance, nice first -

Another good news, the excellent first of Michaël Cuisance, in central midfield, very available in recovery as in construction, and passer on the third goal, where he shifts Amavi, whose center-shot is deflected by Pablo.

For the picture to be perfect, only one goal was missing from "Pipa" Benedetto, still silent, and who lost the ball that Jimmy Briand offered to Maja for the reduction of the score.

Against Olympiakos, the Argentinian should find the 4-3-3 with Dimitri Payet, suspended for two matches in L1.

This complete match is also born from a successful start, for once.

"Flotov" released him in the 5th minute with one of the enveloped strikes he has the secret, superb, triggered from 25 meters.

Cuisance has cleverly erased to open the way to the third goal of the season for the world champion.

He missed the fourth ten minutes later when Benoît Costil pushed back his penalty, after a stroller from Youssouf Sabaly on Amavi (14th), in almost all the good oops.

- Thauvin misses a penalty -

After the missed penalty, the ball was Bordeaux, and we could glimpse a few entrechats of HBA, small-dribbles or light touches.

Ben Arfa thought he scored, in a stadium he knows well, but he was a bit offside (16th).

But Bordeaux was little dangerous, twice by Toma Basic (25th, 73rd), each time blocked by Steve Mandanda, before the goal.

Rather than Ben Arfa, returned from his failed exile in Valladolid, we especially saw Amavi, hilarious to have scored with the head, a "glancing header", as the British say.

The pass was from Thauvin, still decisive on a set piece.

Too bad the Velodrome is empty, he would have greeted with a monster ovation the match of Amavi, ex-sufferer who had won back his supporters.

There was also no one for the first "Jump" since the death of its composer, Eddie Van Halen.

It must be said that Marseille entered a curfew on Saturday evening and that the closed session was imperative.

But the OM players did everything to make it less bitter, and for the first time this season "A la bien", the Soprano song which only resonates in the event of victory, resounded in the Vélodrome.

And Wednesday night, it will finally be the little music of the Champions League ...

© 2020 AFP