Paris Saint Germain survived at the Velodrome stadium (0-0) in the French classic against Olympique Marseille, who did not have the necessary aim to overcome a Ligue 1 leader who played almost the entire second half with one man less by the expulsion of the Moroccan Achraf Hakimi.
The classic had everything but goals. The crowded stands, a hot crowd, decisive interventions by the VAR, interruption due to the behavior of the fans and even a spontaneous on the field.
Neither Leo Messi nor Kylian Mbappe, much less Neymar, who started the Parisian attack together with Ángel Di María, shone in a duel without great game but with emotion that Jorge Sampaoli’s team had closer, especially in the second half .
The dominance of the party was tied at the beginning by the cadre of Mauricio Pochettino. Mbappe and Messi, head first, had the opportunity to score but were unsuccessful.
At a quarter of an hour, a bad shot by Neymar, who was looking for Mbappe, was intercepted by the Brazilian Luan Peres, who introduced the ball into his own goal. The VAR intervened and annulled the goal.
It also happened to Marseille when a center from the Spanish Pol Lirola was taken advantage of by the Polish Arkadiusz Milik. Video refereeing came into action, invalidating the goal.
The chances declined in the first half interrupted at half an hour by the behavior of the local radicals, who threw objects onto the pitch every time Neymar or Messi tried to execute a corner kick.
After the intermission, an action marked the match. Undar faced the goal of Keylor Navas alone and was locked by Achraf. It was outside the area, but the action cost the defender the red card.
The superiority encouraged Marseille, which closed in on Navas’ goal. Always without success. Neither Dimitry Payet nor Valentin Rongier nor Konrad de la Fuente took advantage of clear opportunities to score and unbalance the game while Paris Saint Germain only threatened actions on the counterattack.
The tie reduces the distance of Pochettino’s team in the lead. They are seven points ahead of Lens, who beat Metz, while Marseille is fourth, also behind Nice, ten from first place. EFE (HN)