PSG Tops Marseille in Le Classique

By Andy Pearson | Nov 9, 2014

Le Classique, one of the biggest soccer games in France. It is held between two long time rivals and two of France’s best clubs, Paris St Germain and Olympiue de Marseille. Marseille is tied for most titles in French Ligue 1 history with 10 titles in the top-tier. Even though PSG only holds 4 titles of their own, they are quickly making a name for themselves after ownership change and lots of money being pumped into the system, turning them into a French powerhouse.

Marseille and Paris are the two biggest cities in France and it shows through their clubs. The two teams often have the two best average attendances per season, they are the two most popular teams both inside and outside of France, and needless to say, they are the heart and soul of Ligue 1. These are the only two teams in Ligue 1 history to hold European trophies.

Whenever these two rivals get together, it is never pretty. Although Marseille and Paris aren’t neighbors, the heat behind this rivalry is deeper than that. There have been many incidents through history when fans have been brutally attacked, even murdered, and there have been tons of arrests. Needless to say, there is a deep hatred between these two teams.

While there were no serious incidents during the November 9th, 2014 addition to this story, it still had its normal aggressiveness to it. There were hard tackles, players going at each other, the ref gave a terrible red card to Marseille, and even the coach for PSG got into it as he refused to give the Marseille player the ball on the sideline.

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After an aggressive 10 minutes for Marseille, PSG slowly started to take over the game. In the first 10 minutes, Marseille had attack after attack, but they were not able to hit the back of the net. At one point, Gignac hit a tremendous volley, but it hit the post as the score remained blank at 0-0.

After around the 15 minute mark, things started to turn, and PSG got on the attack and did not let up until the final whistle sounded.In the 38th minute, there was a scramble in the box of Marseille, before Brazilian star Lucas was able to put the ball home, giving the hosts the lead 1-0 and the place went nuts. Around the 50th minute there was a terrible call made by the ref. One of the Marseille players went in for a tackle against a PSG player and slightly got his foot and took him down.

At most it should have been a yellow card, but the ref thought differently as he reached in his pocket and pulled out red. With that, Marseille was down 1-0 and was down to 10 men. In the 85th minute, the game was sealed and done when Cavani slotted home a header inbetween goalie Madanda’s legs, to put the hosts up 2-0 and essentially end the game. Sure enough, PSG were victors by a 2-0 scoreline.

There were a few players who stood out in this game. First of all, from PSG would have to be midfielder Veratti. He plays more of a defensive midfield role so you won’t see his name light up the score board, but his ball handling was phenomenal. He didn’t have any bad touches and always was setting up his teammates perfectly, he really stood out in this game and showed why he is one of the better young players today. Another PSG spotlight goes to Cavani.

Cavani has been on fire lately, scoring 5 goals in the last 5 games in all appearances, and added another tonight. His header late in the game sealed the deal for PSG and was a great strike. A final spotlight goes to the great Ibrahimovic. Ibrahimovic had been out for many weeks before this game and was excited to get back out there for Le Classique. He sat out the first hour, but for those last 30 minutes that he was in for, he made an immediate impact.

Ibrahimovic was constantly imposing himself up front and even had two solid shots on target and came very close to scoring, if it weren’t for Mandanda. This leads us to the last player who made an impact, the goalie for the losing team Steve Mandanda. Even though his team lost 2-0, if it weren’t for him, it could have been a lot worse. The two goals he could do very little about, but he made very impressive saves throughout the rest of the game and earned an honorable mention.

This ends another chapter in the Le Classique novel, and what a chapter it was. The place was cram packed and the crowd loved every minute of it. This game had a bit of everything in it and was an absolute joy to witness. PSG came out the victors and they deserved it. With the win, they pull within a point of Marseille for the number one spot in France. They will meet at least once more, next time it will be at Marseille, let’s see if Marseille can gain some revenge then.