Lyon win 3-0 at second-placed Marseille

Updated: May 17, 2023, 04:57 am
Lyon celebrate their opening goal against Marseille at Stade Velodrome on Sunday.
Lyon celebrate their opening goal against Marseille at Stade Velodrome on Sunday.
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Olympique Lyonnais beat second-placed Olympique de Marseille 3-0 in an entertaining Ligue 1 clash on Sunday, preventing Jorge Sampaoli's side from tightening their grip on an automatic Champions League spot.

Castello Lukeba, Moussa Dembele and Karl Toko Ekambi scored a goal each to complicate Marseille's return to Champions League action next season, narrowing their advantage over both third-placed Rennes and fourth-placed Monaco to three points.

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Poland international Arkadiusz Milik should have put the home side ahead in the 10th minute after he received a long pass inside the box, but his effort was blocked by the Lyon defence.

Another golden chance arrived for Marseille just before half-time but the perfect cross sent by Gerson was followed by Milik's terrible miss from inside the six-yard box.

Lyon took advantage of the hosts' wasted opportunities to open the scoring in the 55th minute when a close-range shot by Dembele was blocked by Marseille goalkeeper Pau Lopez but Lukeba's follow-up strike ended up in the bottom left corner.

The visitors doubled their lead 20 minutes later when Dembele nodded home a precise cross from defender Malo Gusto, scoring his 17th league goal of the season.

Karl Toko Ekambi added the third goal for the visitors just before the final whistle, netting from the corner of the six-yard box.

Marseille held on to second place in the league, with 65 points, but Rennes and Monaco, who both enjoyed 2-0 weekend wins -- over St Etienne and Angers respectively -- are now three points behind. PSG, on 79, have already clinched the title.

The top two teams will qualify directly for the Champions League group stage while the third-placed side will play in the third qualifying round.

Lyon, seventh in the league and undefeated in 16 of their last 17 matches against Marseille in all competitions, boosted their hopes of qualifying for European football as they are now five points away from the Europa Conference League spot.

With three games left to play, they will next travel to bottom-placed Metz on Sunday.

Marseille will visit Lorient later on the same day, three days after hosting Feyenoord in the second leg of their Conference League semifinal when they hope to overturn a 3-2 away loss and qualify for the final.