It has been a long wait for the football fans in France, with the Ligue 1 season suspended in March and only restarting in September. While the wait for the players was somewhat shorter, with the Champions League and French Cup returning behind closed doors, in addition to a couple of practice bouts, the anxiety was obvious when two of the behemoths of French football took on each other in Paris.
Marseille, already 10 years distanced to their last title, were the runners up last season and are expected to put on a proper challenge to PSG’s reign this year as well. The team from the south had not won in Paris for nine years and went into the game as huge underdogs by any means, despite PSG being without Kylian Mbappe and a couple of other first team players. Neymar, Angel Di Maria and Leandro Paredes had been out in a quarantine due to testing positive for covid, but surprisingly featured for the hosts in the Sunday night matchup.
As usual, the game was a heated affair with no love lost between the clubs. The first half saw five yellow cards brandished and also a goal by the visitors after a reckless challenge by as PSG player. Dmitri Payet set up the long distance free kick and as so many times before, his partner in crime Florian Thauvin broke free of the defense and slotted the ball easily in the PSG goal. Both teams did have a goal whistled off, but despite of PSG knocking at the door, Marseille fought bravely against their overwhelming opponents.
The mayhem broke loose in the closing minutes of the game, with PSG’s Neymar instigating by shoving Marseille defender Alvaro into ground outside of the pitch and engaging in a battle of words with the Spaniard. The heated exchange finished with Neymar tapping Alvaro in the back of the head, which surprisingly seemed to end the feud. But the worse was still to come. Dario Benedetto fell hard after a reckless header and the bench clearing brawl was ready. Marseille’s Jordan Amavi and PSG’s Laywin Kurzawa traded punches – if rather softly – while Benedetto and Paredes were shown their second yellow cards for unsportsmanlike conduct. To add icing to the cake, Neymar’s antics led to VAR-decision and the Brazilian was tossed out after punching Alvaro in the back of the head once more.
Five ejections and 14 yellow cards in the game did not bother Marseille, as they ran out the victors for the first time in nine years taking an early advantage with two wins in two games against their nemesis PSG, who have lost both of their matches this season.
