The Ligue 1 top match between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Marseille turned into a one-sided affair: In the end, the reigning Champions League winners won 5-0—and the visitors were still well served.
Paris coach Luis Enrique made two changes to his starting lineup after the 2-1 win over Strasbourg: Hakimi (red card suspension) and Mbaye (bench) were replaced by Doué and Dembelé.
His counterpart, Marseille’s Roberto de Zerbi, made one change after the 3-0 win against Rennes: Pavard started in place of Igor Paixao (bench).
Dembelé scores twice
Looking at the table, this was definitely a top-of-the-table clash, but with a nine-point gap between the two sides, the favorites were clear: Paris were top of the table, while the visitors from Marseille were third.
However, the game was dominated almost entirely by the hosts, who also benefited from Marseille’s sloppy defending. The first goal came in the 12th minute, when OM pushed up and was outmaneuvered by PSG with a simple through ball. Barcola had a clear run, found Dembelé with a simple cross, who had an easy job and beat de Lange with his first-time shot. The 2-0 was much more difficult, this time the Ballon d’Or winner rounded several defenders, who gave the 2018 world champion more of an escort than resistance, and then powerfully drove the ball under the crossbar with the tip of his foot to make it 2-0 at half-time (37′).
PSG has an easy game
Anyone who thought Marseille would react was confronted with the opposite: Paris kept their foot on the gas and at times overwhelmed the visitors with quick short passing. Doué hit the post after a quick combination (51′), then Joao Neves sealed the deal by forcing Medina into an own goal: the OM player unintentionally flicked his lob over his own keeper and into the goal (64′). The shock still lingered as Paris increased their lead: Dembelé shifted the ball to the right with an unconventional strike to Kvaratskhelia, who volleyed into the far left corner to make it 4-0 (66′).
By now, all doubts had been dispelled, but the Mediterranean side were still fortunate that only Lee took advantage of one of the chances that presented themselves to make it 5-0 – again without serious resistance (74′). PSG then took their foot off the gas and celebrated a well-deserved victory at the end.
