Frédéric Antonetti’s Strasbourg managed to stage a thrilling comeback to secure a 2-2 draw against Olympique de Marseille, further diminishing the latter’s chances of clinching the Ligue 1 title. Jean-Eudes Aholou’s two goals helped salvage a point for the relegation battlers.
Strasbourg started the game confidently, with Morgan Sanson heavily involved in their attacking play. Despite having a close-range effort blocked and playing a delightful long pass to Habib Diallo, who missed the target with his angled strike, Strasbourg looked like anything but a team struggling to avoid relegation. Thomas Delaine had a chance to give them the lead but dragged his left-footed shot wide when racing through on goal.
Marseille’s task became more challenging after Leonardo Balerdi was shown a straight red card for bringing down Diallo. Although the contact seemed minimal, the Senegalese forward fell to the ground. Strasbourg continued to dominate, but Kevin Gameiro’s header from Delaine’s cross went wide before the break.
However, Marseille took the lead four minutes into the second half through Chancel Mbemba, who fired home the loose ball after Matz Sels parried Ruslan Malinovskyi’s free-kick. Despite this setback, Strasbourg continued to press forward through Sanjin Prcić, who failed to find the target after working himself into a promising position.
But Strasbourg’s promising play came undone when Frédéric Guilbert pulled Alexis Sánchez’s shirt in the box, conceding a penalty. The Chilean converted the spot-kick to end his three-match scoring drought and give Marseille a 2-1 lead.
Just as Marseille looked set to secure all three points, Jean-Eudes Aholou scored twice in quick succession to level the scores. First, his looping effort from a corner reduced the deficit, before a stunning long-range shot made it 2-2. Aholou nearly completed a hat-trick but was denied by the Marseille goalkeeper.
The result means Marseille are now 10 points behind Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain with 11 matches remaining. However, they remain in contention for a UEFA Champions League qualification place. Strasbourg move up to 15th in the league table thanks to this unexpected point.
