Marseille move back to second

Dieng, Cengiz score for French club in 2-0 home victory over Montpellier

PARIS:

Marseille scored twice in the first 19 minutes and then spent a relaxed Sunday evening cruising to a 2-0 home victory over Montpellier and back into second place in Ligue 1.

The home team pressed hard at the start and were rewarded after nine minutes when Amine Harit cut in from the right, drew goalkeeper Jonas Omlin and then rolled the ball across the six-yard box to Bamba Dieng who shot into the empty net.

Dieng won the penalty that doubled Marseille's lead 10 minutes later.

Gerson's clever backheel gave Dieng a yard of space but Jordan Ferri hacked him down. Cengiz Under converted the spot kick.

Omlin was sent off in added time, but by then the match had long been over.

Marseille gained the confidence boost of a fourth straight league win at the start of a difficult week.

They travel to Greece to defend a one-goal lead against PAOK in Thessaloniki in an already acrimonious Europa Conference League tie on Thursday.

They visit bitter rivals and runaway league leaders Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.

"These victories give us momentum," said Marseille Jorge Sampaoli.

"Now we have to recover and hope to have some players back for Thursday. Then there will be the game on Sunday with very little preparation time."

Earlier in the day, fourth-placed Strasbourg's hopes of catching Marseille suffered a blow when they conceded a last-minute equaliser to Lyon.

Ibrahima Sissoko gave the home team a 20th after a comical mix up in the home defence which also forced goalkeeper Anthony Lopes off injured.

Karl Toko Ekambi equalised in the 90th minute but the 1-1 draw in the home of the European Parliament left Lyon 10th and even further from a place in Europe.

Fifth-placed Nice lost more ground in the race for a Champions League spot after going down 3-0 at Lens, who played over 70 minutes with 10 men.

Nice trainer Christophe Galtier accused his players of "turning up as tourists."

At the other end of the table, Bordeaux ended an eight-match winless run by beating relegation rivals Metz 3-1 on Sunday to earn a first victory under coach David Guion and climb off the foot of the Ligue 1 table.