Marseilles (AFP)

His penalty goal allowed OM to equalize and prevent Marseille from losing against Lyon on Sunday (1-1), for his first match at the Vélodrome: Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik is already showing great promise.

It is the second goal in two matches as the holder of the former Napoli player with his new club, on his 27th birthday, moreover.

The offensive rookie in the winter transfer window is the first Marseille player to score on each of his first two starts in Ligue 1 since Dimitri Payet in August 2013.

Because Milik had already opened his counter with the Marseille team by scoring against Lens on February 3 (2-2) for his first tenure with his new colors, before seeing his debut quickly thwarted by an injury to the left thigh which made him unavailable for two weeks for a total of four matches.

Beyond his goal, his performance in Lens looked promising for an hour before he came out holding his left thigh.

In conflict with the direction of Napoli, Milik had not played the entire season in club and only a few matches in the selection, before joining Marseille and his body may have struggled to cash the recovery.

"I feel ready. I trained very hard in Naples. I just need rhythm and to play matches", he had however declared during his presentation.

OM hoped to get him to play again against Nantes (1-1), from February 20, but, insufficiently recovered, he had to postpone his return which therefore proved to be a winner against OL by transforming this penalty awarded to a fault of hand of Paqueta which made debate, little before the half-time.

Apart from this penalty, where he took Anthony Lopes on the wrong foot with a strike from the inside of his left foot, Milik was also dangerous on a too crushed shot stopped by the Lyon goalkeeper (61).

- Euro in sight -

It is not yet known if Marseille finally holds the high-level center forward that he has been looking for for several years, the famous "grantattakan".

For the Pole, looking for playing time to hope to play the Euro in June, whatever his state of form, "the only thing that matters is to put the ball in the bottom" while there is a lot waiting on his recruitment to a position where disappointments have accumulated.

Like the arrivals of Kostas Mitroglou, Valère Germain, Mario Balotelli and more recently Dario Benedetto, all in failure.

Athletic (1.86 m), good head and left foot, "Arek" Milik should thus offer new perspectives to the Marseille game while the arrival of the new coach, the Argentine Jorge Sampaoli is announced for Tuesday.

The latter should not fail to congratulate himself on benefiting from the services of a striker who gains confidence in his new team in search of a rebound.

© 2021 AFP