Marseille and Saint-Etienne made their debut in the league this season, winning respectively against Brest (3-2) and Lorient (2-0), in the 2e Ligue 1 day, Sunday August 31.
Nice is the only club with two wins on the clock after its success in Strasbourg on Saturday night (2-0). The Aiglons occupy the head of a Ligue 1 ranking truncated by the various postponements, consequences of the presence of Paris and Lyon in the “Final 8” of the Champions League in Lisbon, and cases of Covid-19 detected in several clubs .
Thus Paris-Saint-Germain, whose players went on vacation after the C1 final lost against Bayern Munich last Sunday, has still not played any Ligue 1 meeting. They will start their championship after the international break, the Thursday, September 10 in Lens, before receiving, three days later, their rivals from Olympique de Marseille, for the 3e day.
The victorious return of Thauvin
At OM precisely, Florian Thauvin tasted, on Sunday, his first tenure since May 2019. Injured to his right ankle in the summer of 2019, the midfielder came back too quickly and could only play ten minutes in start of the 2019-2020 season before being operated on. His last full match was in June 2019, with the Blues in Andorra.
On Sunday in Brest, the Marseille midfielder opened the scoring with a curled shot entering the area, with a little luck as the ball, slightly deflected, lobbed the Brest goalkeeper Gautier Larsonneur. The 2018 world champion, who played the 90 minutes, was also involved in Marseille’s second goal, delivering a perfect free-kick assist for Duje Caleta Car.
After a preparation turned upside down by several cases of Covid-19, the OM of André Vilas-Boas suffered in the second half, played at a very high pace. The Brestois, who had narrowed the gap by Romain Faivre just before the break, missed many opportunities to equalize in the final half hour.
The Marseillais weren’t asking for as much, and Thauvin, still with his surgical left foot from a free kick, found Caleta Car’s header to close the game. Involved in all three of his team’s goals, Florian Thauvin could be satisfied with an almost perfect return to the pitch.
“It was very long, the first long injury of my career. I admit, I went through a complicated period, I worked a lot, I am proud, because I didn’t give up. Today I feel good, I have no pain, it is a great satisfaction “, said the Marseille attacking midfielder.
“I still have to work on my explosiveness over the first ten meters to be able to dribble my opponent. But if I had been told that after so long without playing I was going to play at this level, I would have signed right away. “
After the meeting, the Portuguese coach of OM, André Villas-Boas, indicated that the club had found the left side he was looking for: the Japanese international Yuto Nagatomo (33), at the end of his contract at Galatasaray. , should be the lining of Jordan Amavi.
“It happened today [dimanche] in Marseille, tomorrow he takes the tests, we hope that everything will go well ”, said “AVB” at Téléfoot’s microphone.
Hamouma double for Saint-Etienne
The Stéphanois did not miss their first meeting either, and can thank Romain Hamouma. With a superb curling shot at the entrance to the penalty area, he found the opposite window to deceive the Lorient goalkeeper Paul Nardi after a quarter of an hour of play.
He then doubled the lead in the second half, and allowed the men of Claude Puel, finalists of the Coupe de France at the end of July against Paris SG, to win against the Merlus and to sweep away the doubts that could have arisen after a preparation complicated.
“It was important to start with a victory after being frustrated not having played for Marseille last week. We had a very long preparation that started in June ”, analyzed the two-time goalscorer from Saint-Etienne, joined by Claude Puel, the coach of the Greens:
“I’m happy with the result and happy for the players who are going through difficult things with a preparation that no club has had to deal with. We had to prepare for a first match, the Coupe de France final, for July 24 and have to plan for a second official match more than a month later. And then we don’t play for two weeks anymore. We finished as best we could, with cramps. But there were some interesting things. “
Bamba decisive for Lille, first victory for Kovac with Monaco
Held in check last week at home against Rennes, Lille has completely mastered its subject in Reims, winning thanks to a dry shot from Jonathan Bamba at the half-hour mark. After a complicated 2019-2020 season (only one goal in 28 league matches), Bamba seems to regain color, he who scored the goal of the Mastiffs against Rennes seven days ago.
For his second match on the bench of Monaco, Niko Kovac was able to breathe, thanks to a success (1-0) on the lawn of Metz, thanks to a realization of Benoit Badiashile.
At La Beaujoire, Nantes was reduced to nine against eleven in the last minutes of the match against Nîmes, but managed to keep its lead on the wire (2-1), to sign its first victory of the season, after the inaugural draw in Bordeaux (0-0).
As for Lorient and Nîmes, weekends follow each other but are not alike for Angers, winner last week but defeated at home by Bordeaux on Sunday (2-0). The Girondins, who will face Lyon on the next day, are second in the standings, two points behind OGC Nice. Thanks to a better goal difference, they are ahead of Rennes, Lille, Monaco and Nantes who also have four points.