Football: led by the Mbappé-Messi duo, PSG erases Olympique de Marseille at the Vélodrome

Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi celebrate the third Parisian goal during the OM-PSG match, February 26, 2023. © AFP / NICOLAS TUCAT

Text by: Valentin Berg Follow

3 mins

 Kylian Mbappé has scored his 200th goal for PSG and is tied with Edinson Cavani's record.

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The pass of two for OM or the hour of revenge for PSG?

The leader of the French championship remained on a taste of unfinished business against his Marseille rival, after

on February 8.

This second confrontation in the space of a month could weigh heavily in the title race and benefit Olympique de Marseille, five points from first place, against a PSG in difficulty in this second part of the season.

It was the Marseillais who first packed the game, thanks to a good breakthrough from Nuno Tavares who found himself alone in the box, but took too long to adjust Donnarumma (12th) and ended up losing the ball after a good defensive return from Nuno Mendes.

The Paris camp then lost Presnel Kimpembe to injury (16th), who collapsed on the lawn during a Marseille offensive.

This could have marked the beginning of the nightmare for the players of Christophe Galtier, who began to suffer more and more opposing opportunities and could have conceded the opener on another attempt by Nuno Tavares (18th), who unscrewed his strike.

But after a Parisian counterattack, Kylian Mbappé, well served by Messi, only needed one chance to beat Pau López and open the scoring (25th, 1-0).

A few minutes later, Éric Bailly thought to sound the revolt for his camp (28th) but his goal was refused by Clément Turpin due to a control of the hand.

In the process, Kylian Mbappé reversed the roles by serving Lionel Messi in turn with a superb pass between the legs of the Ivorian defender, who only had to push the ball into the Marseille cages (29th, 2-0 ).

The Argentinian even narrowly missed the 3-0 goal (34th), but his shot from close range went well above the opposing goal.

Mbappé (39th) and Marquinhos (40th) continued to undermine OM's defense, without finding the net again.

Dominated, Marseille remained without solution in the face of the effectiveness of the Parisian duo Mbappé-Messi.

PSG intractable against its dolphin

And things did not work out for the Phocaeans: as soon as the resumption, the French striker narrowly missed the double by pushing the ball with a header which passed just next to the opposing cages (52nd).

He immediately corrected himself a few minutes later by scoring his 200th goal in the colors of PSG, perfectly served by Messi (55th, 3-0).

Uninspired in attack, the Marseille players finally forced Donnarumma to deploy on a double save against Alexis Sánchez and Sead Kolašinac (65th), who lacked realism.

PSG, well in place, then contented themselves with managing their result, without being really worried by the timid attempts of the Marseillais, like the unscrewed strike from Cengiz Ünder (78th) or the failed acrobatic recovery from Leonardo Balerdi (80th).

On a reaction of pride, OM did not go far from shaking the Parisian nets following a good cross from Tavares taken over by Vitinha (90th), but Donnarumma once again distinguished himself to keep the score in the state.

With this success, the Parisians are reassured and consolidate their place at the top of Ligue 1 (60 points) with now eight lengths ahead of their direct competitor.

OM, which had dominated PSG in early February in the Coupe de France, was transparent on February 26 at the Vélodrome and failed to find the solution to contain the Parisian attackers.

Untenable, Kylian Mbappé scored twice and rose to the rank of co-top scorer in the history of PSG.

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