Marseille move back into second with 4-2 comeback win at St Etienne

Marseille moved back into second place in Ligue 1 after coming from behind to win 4-2 at St Etienne with a second-half goal blitz on Sunday.

Marseille, who are nine points adrift of Paris St-Germain before the leaders host Lorient later on Sunday, started brightly but had only themselves to blame for going behind.

Poor defending from Sead Kolasinac and a howler from goalkeeper Pau Lopez gifted St Etienne their opener through Denis Bouanga against the run of play in the ninth minute.

St Etienne looked like they would take their lead into halftime until Eliaquim Mangala brought down Marseille's Duje Caleta-Car in the box just before the break and Dimitri Payet stepped up to score his 10th league goal of the season.

Marseille carried their momentum into the second half and were rewarded on the hour when St Etienne's off-balance Timothee Kolodziejczak misdirected a clearance into his own net to give the away side the lead.

St Etienne's Arnaud Norin then brought down Gerson to gift Marseille a second penalty, which was converted at the second time of asking by Bamba Dieng, before Amine Harit capped a well-worked break with a tidy finish for their fourth.

Lucas Gourna-Douath got a second goal for St Etienne in the 86th minute but it was too late for a comeback as the visitors enjoyed a third straight league victory to leave St Etienne in 18th spot with 27 points, a point from the safety zone.