Nantes 1-1 Marseille: Les Canaris hold high-flying visitors to draw despite having Bastien Meupiyou sent off on debut

Ten-man Nantes held Marseille to a 1-1 draw against all the odds in a barnstorming Ligue 1 game that produced plenty of chances for both sides to win.

Marseille started at 100 miles an hour and took a hugely deserved lead when Remy Descamps palmed a Vitinha shot right into the path of Ismaila Sarr, who blasted home appreciatively.

Things soon got even worse for the hosts just minutes later when debutant Bastien Meupiyou made enough contact on Sarr to bring down the striker as he burst through on goal, and was sent off after just nine minutes.

However, Mustafa Mohamed created a brilliant two-touch finish out of nothing after receiving the ball with his back to goal, and Marseille could never recapture that early momentum.

Roared on by a boisterous home crowd, both sides searched for a winner in the second half but couldn’t produce that moment of magic, a draw that the 10-man Nantes will wear with pride while Marseille go top of the table by just a point from Monaco, who play Lens tomorrow.

Monaco were held by Nantes last weekend so Marseille will be frustrated not to have taken the chance to pile the pressure onto their rivals.

Nantes gave a fierce rearguard action for much of the game, in front of a febrile and vociferous home support that carried on singing even through the early Marseille blitz.

Descamps didn’t look entirely confident catching the ball – aside from setting up Sarr’s goal there were several other flaps that went unpunished – but he was energetic in the box and well defended by a determined backline for much of the game.

Going forward, Nantes really benefitted from the introduction of Kader Bamba at half-time, he provided tireless running alongside Moses Simon who set up Mohamed’s first-half goal brilliantly.

After a quick throw-in found him in the box, he flicked the ball to the Egyptian who calmly pivoted left off Chancel Mbemba before flashing a half-volley across Pau Lopez’s goal.

Marseille made an absolutely scintillating start, new signing Joaquin Correa played Vitinha in for a one-on-one inside the first few minutes and after scoring the opener and seeing Meupiyou depart it looked set to be a turkey shoot.

The visitors were a joy to watch in the opening half-hour, showing brilliant interplay between the forward players with either two defenders pushing up into midfield or Sarr or Vitinha dropping behind the front line to provide the link play.

But after Mohamed’s goal that seemed to go out the window for the visitors. Despite a brief period at the start of the second half, it was easy for Nantes to break up their attacks with the static strikers proving no threat at all.

The sight of three players standing motionless five yards away from each other on the edge of the box became more and more frequent, and though Jordan Vertout showed some good conducting very late on, the moment had passed for Marseille.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is still awaiting his first Ligue 1 goal and on the basis of tonight that could go on for a while, he was anonymous for much of the game while Vitinha and Correa did provide some inventiveness, but too often didn’t threaten the goal.

Bamba’s premature withdrawal against Monaco last week helped turn momentum against Nantes as they conceded a late equaliser after leading 3-1 at one stage.

However, Bamba’s introduction at half-time tonight really galvanised the side. Quentin Merlin had shown flashes of creativity down the left in the first half but Bamba soon Nantes’ main attacking outlet, combining well with Chirivella.

He showed boundless energy to harry Marseille when not on the ball and proved extremely difficult to dispossess with it, Bamba may not have had a goal contribution but he was absolutely crucial in swinging the momentum away from the visitors.

Make no mistake, Nantes couldn’t have survived a second half like the first 45 minutes but the Bamba prolonged home possession and enabled his side to grow into the game meant they didn’t have to.

Mohamed could’ve just as easily taken the award for his inspired finish, or Sarr as the focal point of Marseille’s early dominance.

Nantes: Descamps 7, Pierre-Gabriel 6, Castelletto 7, Comert 8, Meupiyou 0, Merlin 7, Douglas Augusto 7, Chirivella 6, Adson 6, Simon 7, Mohamed 8

Subs: Bamba 8, Ganogo 6, Coco 6, Moutoussamy 6

Marseille: Lopez 6, Clauss 6, Gigot 7, Mbemba 7, Lodi 7, Vitinha 7, Rongier 6, Correa 7, Veretout 7, Sarr 8, Aubameyang 5

4’ GOAL! Nantes 0-1 Marseille: What a start. Marseille have been all over Nantes and after Descarts palmed another Vitinha shot back out, Sarr hammers it into the net.

9’ RED CARD FOR NANTES! Bastien Meupiyou’s debut is over already! Pedro Chirivella passed back and Meupiyou was robbed by Sarr, before bringing the attacker down outside the area preventing a one-on-one, and the referee had no doubts showing red,

16’ Sarr close again: There’s no let-up from Marseille, Sarr recieved a deflected cross there but again Descamps was quickly out to block it off.

39’ GOAL! Nantes 1-1 Marseille: Where has that come from? Merlin takes a quick throw-in to Simon, who finds Mohamed in the box on the swivel and the striker makes no mistake from there.

67’ Handball shout: Simon kept running and running down the left flank there, pushing Samuel Grigot further and further back. Eventually he cut it back and the Nantes fans are up in arms for a handball shout…

90+3’ Almost heartbreak! Aubameyang reached a cross at point-blank range there, but couldn’t direct it at the goal. Then Nantes take four shots on goal but can’t get through.

• 601 passes made by Marseille, compared to just 348 for Nantes.
• Just two shots on target for the home side, luckily Mohamed made one of them count.