Ligue 1 2018-19: 5 talking points from Match Day 6
The sixth Match Day of the Ligue 1 2018-19 season witnessed the high profile Olympico derby with Lyon, high on confidence after a victory over Manchester City taking on Marseille. The league leaders Paris Saint Germain took on Rennes to assert their dominance in Ligue 1 further while Monaco were looking to get their campaign back on track after a pretty ordinary start to the season and a loss in the Champions League to Atletico Madrid as well. Montpellier and Lille performed strongly to go third and second respectively in the league.
Here, we take a look at the five main talking points from Match Day 6 of the Ligue 1 2018-19 season:
#5 Lyon defeats Marseille in the Olympico derby
Lyon have had a rough start to their Ligue 1 campaign securing just 7 points out of their first five matches while Marseille had a better campaign so far with 10 points from five games, including a win against Monaco. Both teams started their European journey as well this week as Lyon travelled to the Etihad to face Manchester City and came out as unlikely victors with a 2-1 victory. Marseille meanwhile were at home against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League and in spite of leading 1-0, went down to 1-2 to 10 men Frankfurt team.
Bruno Genesio started the match for Lyon with a 4-4-2 formation with Nabil Fekir and Memphis Depay in attack, supported by Aouar, Traore, Cheikh and Ndombele in midfield. Marseille started the match in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Payet, Thauvin and Ocampos supporting lone striker Mitroglou. Houssem Aouar opened the scoring for Lyon in the 27th minute, the assist coming from Ndombele. Shortly after, Thauvin equalized in the 39th minute scoring off of a Payet assist. The first half ended in a 1-1 draw.
In the second half, Bertrand Traore came into action scoring twice in ten minutes being assisted by Ndombele and Fekir in the 51st and 60th minute respectively. Traore won a penalty again which was awarded by VAR and Fekir converted from the spot to make it 4-1. Payet provided a second assist for N'Jie in the 82nd minute but it was not enough as Marseille were reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of Caleta-Car. The match ended 4-2 in favor of Lyon.
With this win, Lyon and Marseille are both on 10 points after 6 games in 6th and 5th place respectively, Lyon being behind on goal difference. The next opponents for Lyon are Dijon while Marseille face off against Strasbourg at home.