MARSEILLE (Reuters) – Olympique de Marseille held nine-men AS Monaco to an entertaining 2-2 home draw on Saturday as the visitors failed to win for the second Ligue 1 game in a row.
Gennaro Gattuso’s Marseille climbed to sixth place on 29 points as Monaco remained fourth on 34, level with Stade Brestois who visit leaders Paris St Germain on Sunday.
Monaco grabbed the lead after seven minutes when Aleksandr Golovin set up Wissam Ben Yedder with a superb lobbed through ball from which the captain coolly slotted home.
The visitors, however, were dealt a huge blow four minutes later as defender Guillermo Maripan received a red card for tripping Marseille’s Vitinha.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalised for Marseille in the 38th minute, pouncing on a rebound off the post after Vitinha’s shot with a close-range tap-in.
Maghnes Akliouche restored the lead for Monaco seconds before halftime after a fast break, only for Leonardo Balerdi to level in the 50th minute with a stunning long-range shot that sparked the Stade Velodrome back to life.
Monaco looked to threaten on the counter-attack but their hopes of victory faded when they were reduced to nine men in the 86th minute after Denis Zakaria’s second yellow card.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City, editing by Ed Osmond)
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