Tessmann and Balogun were still out of action due to injuries but McKenzie and Weah saw action over the weekend.
Lille 1 – 0 Marseille
Olympique Marseille travelled from the south coast all the way to the Belgian border in the north where they went up against the Dogues of Lille. Tim Weah went the distance in the loss where the only goal of the game was scored by Kylian Mbappe’s little brother, Ethan.
The goal came in the 10th minute with a long ball played to the edge of the box by Nabil Bentaleb that got lost in the fog of the pre-game pyro techniques. Mbappe did see the ball as it came down and made contact with from 16 yards, just before the OM keeper could grab it.
The visitors got only their first shot on target in the 75th minute when Mason Greenwood ran down most of the field and let off a shot inside the box, only to see his hard work knocked away by the Lille keeper.
Still on 29 points, Marseille sits in third place, just behind PSG but five points behind the new league leaders, RC Lens. They’ll hope to climb higher when they welcome Monaco.
Toulouse 1 – 0 Strasbourg
Mark McKenzie played the entire 90 minutes when Strasbourg came to town on Saturday evening. The only goal of the game, coming in the first half, was down to Strasbourg’s English defender, Ben Chillwell who was a bit lazy in his defending and got caught out and allowed 20-year-old Brazilian attacker Emersonn to grab the ball and get his shot off. Twenty-year-old keeper, Mike Penders, who is on loan from Chelsea, made the initial stop but the ball fell kindly for the Brazilian and he buried it into the back of the net on his second attempt.
The three points leave the Violets in 9th place. Next up is a trip to the French capital to take on 14th place Paris FC.
Notes
Out with a groin injury, Folarin Balogun could only watch from the sidelines as his title challenging Monaco side suffered a 1-0 defeat on the road at Brest. After upsetting PSG last weekend, the loss at the hands of 10th place Brest, was probably not expected.
Now in 7th place and out of the European places, Les Rouge et Blanc will head to Marseille on Sunday night.
Also, out due to injury, Tanner Tessmann missed Lyon’s visit to the northwest of France where they went up against Lorient. The trip was fruitless with the Olympians losing a close one, 1-0. They’ll hope to get back to winning ways next time out against Le Havre but first they’ll be competing in the Europa League, taking on the Dutch side Go Ahead Eagles in midweek.
