Marseille manage win over Rennes without Bafetimbi Gomis

Marseille showed they can cope without top scorer Bafetimbi Gomis by beating Rennes 2-0 at home in Ligue 1 on Saturday, a win that maintains their push for a top-four finish and place in the Europa League next season.

Gomis has been Marseille's best player this season, scoring 16 league goals, but he picked up a knee injury last weekend and is expected to be out for up to six weeks.

In his absence, wingers Clinton N'Jie and Florian Thauvin grabbed second-half goals as Marseille moved level on points with fifth-place Saint-Etienne and one point behind fourth-place Lyon. They are both playing on Sunday.

France playmaker Dimitri Payet went close three times -- hitting the crossbar with a rasping shot -- before starting the move that led to N'Jie's goal in the second half.

Five minutes later, Thauvin scored a powerful swerving shot into the top corner from 20 yards after running onto a neat back heel from midfielder Morgan Sanson.

Inconsistent Marseille have won their past three home games but lost their last three away.

Next up is a home game next Sunday against bitter rivals Paris Saint-Germain -- a must-win game in the eyes of the passionate Marseille fans at Stade Velodrome.

Rennes 0-0 Nantes Ligue 1 Report: : Local rivals play out dull stalemate

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2015/03/22/rennes-0-0-nantes-ligue-1-report-local-rivals-play-out-dull-stalemate/

Rennes had the better of the game, and created a series of half-chances, but on every occasion they were thwarted by Remy Riou.

The Nantes goalkeeper was the game’s outstanding player and was on hand to ensure that the Canaries avoided defeat to their eternal rivals. The stopper has recently been linked with a move to Corsican side SC Bastia, and after this showing, it was easy to see why Sporting would be interested in his acquisition.

A draw sees Rennes remain in 11th place, having accrued 39 points from 30 matches. However, with almost all of the sides in the bottom half taking points, the Red and Blacks are only seven points from the relegation zone.

Nantes are faring little better, and sit only one point and two places above Philippe Montanier’s men.

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Toulouse dealt Rennes its second straight loss 3-0

Stade Rennes 0-3 Toulouse: On Target Visitors Brush Aside Rennes

It was the away side Toulouse that ran away with all three points as they looked good their 3-0 win over struggling Stade Rennes.

The hosts started the game as the better of the two as Paul-Georges Ntep had his shot well saved down low by the keeper. The visitors started to find their feet in the match when Dragos Grigore helped the ball on with his head into the path of Adrien Regattin, who had a go, but the keeper managed to keep the game level with a good stop.

Despite this, the home side continued to look bright in the early stages as Paul-Georges Ntep produced a fine cross towards Fallou Diagne, who thrush his head and it and forced a goo save from the man in between the sticks.

After a good spell of play from Rennes, the visitors found their breakthrough three minutes before the break. The ball was cut back to Aleksandar Pesic, and his finish was clinical as he found the bottom left corner of the goal to ensure that Toulouse entered the halfway stage with the advantage.

Toulouse came close to their second twelve minutes into the second half when Tongo Doumbia saw his header hit the upright. Their lead was two though as the ball took a defletion on its’ way to goal off Fallou Diagneto gift the visitors a healthy two goal advantage. It could have been three moments later when Paul-Georges Ntep watched his header just evade the post.

The away side did make it three just a minute later when Wissam Ben Yedder showed composure to finish off a good Toulouse move, and in the process wrapped up the game, making sure that Rennes would not take anything from the game.

The hosts tried to force their way back into the game, but had no luck in the closing stages as Toulouse kept hold of their three goal advantage to emerge as deserved 3-0 winners.

Gignac's double sends Olympique Marseille on top of French Ligue table

Gignac double lifts Marseille top of Ligue 1

Paris (AFP) - France striker Andre-Pierre Gignac scored a double to put Marseille top of Ligue 1 for the first time this season with a 3-0 win over Rennes on Saturday.

Gignac opened with a spectacular scissors kick after 50 minutes, doubling his account on 63 minutes to overtake Paris Saint-Germain's towering Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the top Ligue 1 scorer with six goals this season.

Romain Alessandrini completed the scoreline four minutes into injury time to give the hosts their fourth successive win to the delight of the crowd at the Velodrome Stadium.

"We deserved this victory, even if the difference in the scoreline is a bit exaggerated," said Marseille coach Marcelo Bielsa, who praised the efforts of Gignac and goalkeeper and captain Steve Mandanda.

"Gignac managed to create imbalances. There are victories that can be explained by the influence of the goalkeeper or the number 9. We had a very clever and decisive number 9 (Gignac) and a goalkeeper who managed to get us out of very difficult situations."

It puts Marseille equal on 13 points after six games with Bordeaux who shrugged off their shock defeat to Guingamp last weekend to beat rock-bottom Evian 2-1 on Friday.

Marseille are ahead on goal difference but could be overtaken on Sunday when unbeaten Lille host Montpellier.

Bielsa's side were pushed hard in the first half by Rennes but inspired by Gignac the hosts got into their stride in the second half.

Gignac's individual heroics broke the deadlock and 13 minutes later the 28-year-old notched up his sixth goal of the season. A crisply executed Alessandrini free kick settled the affair after 94 minutes of play, as the crowd hailed Bielsa two weeks after his outburst against club bosses.

Bielsa accused club president Vincent Labrune of failing to keep the transfer promises he made when he persuaded the the Argentine to join the club.

For Rennes, sitting seventh, it was the end of their four-match undefeated run including a 1-1 draw last week at two-time defending champions Paris Saint-Germain.

But Nantes were in winning form with a 2-1 win at home against Nice thanks to first half goals from Senegalese midfielder Papy Djilobodji (9 minutes) and Israeli striker Itay Shechter (43) that lifts the southern Brittany outfit two spots to fifth.

It was also a good night for former French international midfielder Florent Malouda, playing his first Ligue 1 match in seven years for his new club Metz, after arriving from Turkish side Trabzonspor.

The 34-year-old former Chelsea player, who won 80 caps for France between 2004 and 2012, celebrated his 200th French league game with a 3-1 win at home against Bastia that puts the promoted side into the top half of the table at ninth.

Toulouse fought back to salvage a 3-3 draw at home against Caen in a thriller which saw three goals scored in the final seven minutes. Toulouse are sitting in 13th position four spots ahead of their Normandy rivals.

Further down the table Reims, in 14th position, moved out of relegation zone with a 1-0 win at Lorient thanks to a second half goal from Cameroonian striker Benjamin Moukandjo.

On Friday, goals in either half from Diego Rolan and Wahbi Khazri gave Willy Sagnol's pace-setting Bordeaux the three points to leave Evian rooted to the foot of the table with just one point from six games having leaked 15 goals already.