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Montpellier bounced back from their opening-day defeat to record an impressive 2-0 victory at Marseille. Rolland
Courbis' side were beaten 2-1 by Bordeaux on the opening weekend but
hit back in the best way possible, with Anthony Mounier and Morgan
Sanson getting the goals.
Marseille had no answer, meaning their
start to the season now reads one point from a possible six after their
3-3 draw with Bastia.
They were rarely in this one, with
Montpellier getting on top from the off and crucially making their
dominance count as the newly-renovated Stade Velodrome played host to
its first Ligue 1 match.
Steve Mandanda stopped the visitors
scoring with just nine minutes gone, producing a fine block as Benjamin
Stambouli broke through and took aim after robbing Brice Djadjedje of
possession.
The scoring was opened nine minutes later, though, as
Mounier found himself in the right place and unmarked from a Mathieu
Deplagne cross. He had plenty of time to decide what to do and opted for
a lofted finish over the helpless Mandanda.
That prodded
Marseille into life and Florian Thauvin tried to get them going, running
at the Montpellier defence and unleashing a strike that Geoffrey
Jourdren did well to block. Back came Montpellier with Sanson's corner finding Stambouli who saw a well-executed volley just skip wide.
The
break offered both sides some respite before Marseille returned to look
for a leveller, with Dimitri Payet putting a free-kick just over. But
with that digesting, Sanson made it two on the counter. Mounier led it,
racing away and then providing a great cross for Sanson who did the
rest.
Marseille rallied, with Jourdren doing well to deny both
Romain Alessandrini and Benjamin Mendy and, when Andre-Pierre Gignac
also found the keeper in his way late on, the home side knew it was not
going to be their day.
