Greenwood quadruple sends Marseille top of Ligue 1 | The Express Tribune

MARSEILLE:

Mason Greenwood scored four goals as Marseille came from behind to hammer Le Havre 6-2 and storm to the top of the Ligue 1 table, while Nice downed Lyon in a clinical display of finishing.

Reigning champions and league leaders going into the weekend’s action, Paris Saint-Germain drew 3-3 at home to third-placed Strasbourg on Friday, offering the possibility to rivals Marseille and Lyon to take top spot.

Marseille emphatically took that chance thanks to Greenwood and now sit on 18 points, one ahead of PSG.

Yassine Kechta gave 15th-placed Le Havre a shock lead at the Velodrome on 24 minutes.

But the match swung firmly in the hosts’ favour just after the half-hour mark as a penalty was awarded against Le Havre’s Gautier Lloris for handball, with the defender also being sent off after a VAR review upped his punishment from a yellow to a red card.

Greenwood dispatched the resulting spot-kick in the 35th minute to level matters.

The 10 men frustrated Marseille until seven minutes after the hour when Greenwood fired them into the lead with a rifled finish from the right of the box.

That strike opened the floodgates.

The English winger grabbed his hat-trick on 72 minutes with a cute finish, before netting his fourth four minutes later as he swept a cut-back past helpless goalkeeper Mory Diaw with his right foot.

Robinio Vaz made it five for Marseille with two minutes remaining before Le Havre’s Abdoulaye Toure got the pick of the bunch with a thunderous volley that flew into the top corner in the 92nd minute.

Amir Murillo netted one minute later to ensure Marseille’s move to the top of the table ended on a high.

‘Guile’ needed

Victory for Paulo Fonseca’s Lyon would have seen them take top spot earlier on Saturday but instead a frustrating 3-2 loss at Nice condemned them to remain fourth on 15 points.

Lyon assistant coach Jorge Maciel said after the defeat that the side needs “maturity and guile at key moments (in matches)”.

“If we have to score four goals to win in Ligue 1, it’s going to be difficult,” the Portuguese added.

Melvin Bard gave eighth-placed Nice the lead with five minutes on the clock as he fired a fine first-time finish past Dominik Greif after racing onto Sofiane Diop’s inviting ball across the box from the right flank.

The away side levelled just shy of the half-hour when Pavel Sulc nodded in a flick-on from a corner.

Diop restored the hosts’ lead in the 35th minute with what was just their second shot on target of the match.

The danger again came from the right-hand side as a flighted ball was headed back across the six-yard box by Mohamed-Ali Cho and the Moroccan tucked home from a tight angle.

Lyon were awarded a spot-kick shortly after half-time but former Arsenal man Ainsley Maitland-Niles failed to beat goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf from 12 yards as Nice were let off.

The home side immediately took advantage of the reprieve as midfielder Hicham Boudaoui finished a breakaway with an unerring strike that curved away from Greif and into the Slovakian’s far corner on 55 minutes.

Sulc headed in his second of the match for Lyon five minutes into added time, but Nice held firm to see out the three points.

Elsewhere on Saturday, fifth-placed Monaco sit one point behind Lyon after being held to a 1-1 draw at second-last Angers.

United States forward Folarin Balogun put the principality side in the lead on 72 minutes.

But Sidiki Cherif hit back with five minutes remaining to earn a valuable point for the strugglers.