Second in the standings, OM, which has a fifth consecutive away victory and which remains on a qualification for the Coupe de France at the expense of PSG (2-1), Wednesday February 8, is five points behind the Parisians, beaten in Monaco (3-1) earlier in the afternoon of Saturday February 11.
The match started 45 minutes late, due to incidents outside the stadium, caused by less than a hundred ultra Marseille supporters without tickets trying to force entry to access the enclosure.
These individuals were repelled by the police, who used tear gas, which made the air unbreathable for the 13,000 spectators at the Gabriel-Montpied stadium, but also for the players.
VAR awards OM a penalty
Overall, even with a three-quarters of an hour delay, OM controlled the game (63% possession of the ball) but only took the advantage on a penalty converted by Sanchez, awarded for a handball by Mohamed Cham following a free kick played by Ruslan Malinovskyi and deflected by goalkeeper Mory Diaw (41).
Two minutes later, the intervention of the video assistance prompted referee Rudy Buquet, who had not seen the fault, to see the hand of the Austrian to award the penalty (44).
At the end of the game, Sanchez definitively ensured the success of OM. He took it twice with a header to convert a cross delivered from the right by Jonathan Clauss into a goal and make it 2-0 (81) before being replaced (84) in stride by the Portuguese Vitinha, arrived at the transfer window and the most expensive recruit in the history of Olympique de Marseille (32 M EUR).
Before the opener, despite Marseille dominating, Clermont had been incisive on the counterattack with an attempt by Cham, deflected by Pau Lopez (13) while a goal was denied to Grejohn Kyei for an offside position ( 24).
In the second half, OM, deprived at half-time of Samuel Gigot, injured in the right leg and replaced by Eric Bailly (46), failed to widen the gap on a shot from Jonathan Clauss (48), a another from Issa Kaboré diverted by Saif-Eddine Khaoui on the crossbar (49), while Jordan Veretout pushed Diaw to the parade (60).
At the very end of the game, a distant lob attempt from Malinovskyi landed narrowly next to Diaw’s goal (90+4).
