A week after his resounding hat-trick against Angers (5-2), it was still the Polish Arkadiusz Milik who allowed OM to win thanks to a nice return just six minutes after coming on (82nd). .

Before that, the Cameroonian Habib Maïga (52nd) had responded to the opener of the Congolese Cédric Bakambu (26th).

The Phocaeans, not flamboyant and often embarrassed by the Messin pressing, especially in the second half, however managed to ensure the essentials by collecting the three points while some direct competitors in the race for the podium cracked this weekend.

The Marseillais thus took advantage of the misstep of Nice, beaten Saturday in Lyon (2-0), and Rennes, beaten Friday on the lawn of the leader, Paris SG (1-0).

With 46 units on the clock, they are now ahead of Les Aiglons and Strasbourg, an astonishing fourth, by four and five lengths respectively.

The Rennais, Lyon and Monaco are themselves behind by nine points.

Sampaoli, winning coaching

Coach Jorge Sampaoli, much criticized for his choices during the debacle in Nice in the Coupe de France on Tuesday (4-1), this time achieved a winning coaching with the goal of Milik and the assist of Sead Kolasinac, both entered in the last quarter of an hour.

Metz, for its part, was not unworthy but recorded a new defeat and slipped into the relegation zone, ahead of the red lantern, Bordeaux, on goal difference (19th, 20 points).

In a sold-out Stade Saint-Symphorien, OM were quick to light the first fuse: at the conclusion of a smoothly executed counterattack, Bamba Dieng, back a week after being crowned African champion with Senegal, placed a powerful shot but far from the frame (3rd).

The Marseillais celebrate their first goal against Metz at the Saint-Symphorien stadium, February 13, 2022 Jean-Christophe Verhaegen AFP

If the Lorrainers responded quickly by Thomas Delaine, who completely unscrewed his volley in the area, they were deprived of the ball by the dominating but not very dangerous Marseillais.

Against Louis Mafouta almost took over a millimeter opening from Farid Boulaya, but Pau Lopez sprang into his feet (20th).

Milik delivers OM

Shortly after, the Phocaeans opened the scoring with some success: on a corner kick from Dimitri Payet, William Saliba's header was deflected by a Messin and the ball returned to Bakambu, who took over without control to open the scoring (0-1, 26th) and score his second goal in three L1 matches.

Shortly after, the Moselle goalkeeper won a duel with Dieng, who missed the opportunity to break for his team (33rd), just like Pape Gueye, the other Marseillais winner of the CAN, whose recovery grazed the post right on a cross from Bakambu (44th).

Marseille striker Arkadiusz Milik (2nd on the left) has just scored OM's winning goal in Metz on February 13, 2022 Jean-Christophe Verhaegen AFP

But when they returned from the locker room, Marseille were surprised by the Lorraine: after a high recovery from a teammate on a raise from Pol Lirola, Maïga inherited the ball, launched Fali Candé on his left and took over the center of the Bissau-Guinean to equalize and ignite Stade Saint-Symphorien (1-1, 52nd).

The Phocaeans woke up a bit on the hour mark but Bakambu did not find the target, then Gueye was blocked in the area (63rd).

They then lacked efficiency on a double occasion: Dieng first stumbled on Caillard, then Lirola sent his recovery over (68th).

Finally, after a ball poorly cleared by the Messina defense, Kolasinac emerged to head the ball back to the penalty spot, where Milik chained a control and an acrobatic return to deliver OM (1-2, 82nd).

© 2022 AFP