PLAYER RATINGS | Marseille 2-0 Nantes: Amine Gouiri and Mason Greenwood on target as OM get back to winning ways | OneFootball

Ligue 1 McDonald’s Matchday 24, 02/03/2025After a week full of controversy surrounding referees and club president Pablo Longoria’s suspension, Marseille got back to Ligue 1 action and got back to winning ways against FC Nantes at the Stade Vélodrome. Amine Gouiri and Mason Greenwood provided the two goals in the space of five minutes near the end of the second half.THE MATCH A week can feel like a long time in football, especially at a club like Marseille where press coverage has been dominated by the post-Auxerre outburst of club president Pablo Longoria and his following 15-match suspension. A lot of the outrage and furore has somewhat distracted supporters from the essential: OM needed to move on and get back on track against FC Nantes at the Vélodrome this weekend. With PSG’s 4-1 win over Lille last night, the priority had to be consolidating Les Phocéens’ spot in the Champions League places. For Nantes, it was simply another opportunity to edge closer to safety in Ligue 1.

An early chance came for Amine Gouiri when Quentin Merlin burst in-behind and almost put the ball on a plate for the Algerian international, but he couldn’t quite reach the ball in time. Les Phocéens had the ball in the back of the net, and Adrien Rabiot thought he tapped in for the opener and his sixth of the season, but there was a hitch. Referee Stéphanie Frappart consulted VAR and the effort would be ruled out for a tight offside on Amine Gouiri in build-up.

Nantes grabbed their first chance of the game when Johann Lepenant’s shot had to be parried carefully by Rulli after some great work from Moses Simon down the left hand side to get into a crossing position. Amir Murillo had to come off injured, and was replaced by Pol Lirola. Yet Marseille had some similar problems than against Auxerre popping up – De Zerbi’s men had to persist. The second half began very much in the same manner, Greenwood struck a ball outside the box way over the bar and it was time for De Zerbi to make some changes. On came Valentin Rongier, and Amar Dedic just before the hour mark.

Nantes very nearly opened the scoring when a lovely bit of skill from Louis Leroux saw the youngster burst into the box, beat two defenders but Rulli held his ground well to parry perfectly and stop the best chance of the game. Finally the deadlock was broken by Les Olympiens with the introduction of Rongier onto the pitch: the Frenchman was key in opting to pass to Amine Gouiri who just had to sweep the ball into what was practically an open net (72′). Marseille hadn’t been anywhere near their best, but they managed to double their lead when Mason Greenwood drove into the box and picked up some defensive errors from the two FCN centre backs to continue his mazy run and finish emphatically (80′). Gouiri almost made it three in injury time, but his strike on goal was dragged wide after getting one on one with Lopes.In the end, it was OM that grabbed the three points despite a spirited performance from Antoine Kombouaré’s extremely organised side. Les Phocéens have now gone three points ahead of Nice in the race for Champions League football.OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE PLAYER RATINGSGéronimo Rulli – 6

Another fine performance from the Argentine shot-stopper, who is proving to be steadily consistent in Ligue 1 for Marseille this season. He was on hand to parry away to safety multiple times in the first half from Abline and Simon’s strikes – but his most decisive moment came in the second when Louis Leroux had beaten the whole OM defence except from Rulli who stood tall and pulled off a great reflex save to deny the Nantes youngster.

Leonardo Balerdi – 5

His return to the side was welcome after OM capitulated at Auxerre last weekend. The Argentine was solid enough and gave Les Phocéens a bit more impetus in playing the ball out from the back. Whilst not game-changing, it certainly helped having the captain back in the side.

Amir Murillo – N/A

Came off injured following an initially positive start in the first half.

Quentin Merlin – 4

Another struggle for Merlin offensively, against his former side no less. He suffered when OM lost their intensity in the first half, and from there it was difficult to get back into the game.

Luis Henrique – 4Not his brightest outing as an OM player for the Brazilian, and struggled to give any effective width or even beat his man at times.

Ismaël Bennacer – 5When a player has started as brightly as Bennacer has for OM, you’re always going to disappoint when an inevitable off-day comes around every so often. This was the case tonight, even though he was clearly one of OM’s most solid players, he lacked a certain amount of precision and was found to be sloppy in possession at times. The substitution of Valentin Rongier did a world of good for OM, and it came at the expense of the Algerian international.

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 6Whenever OM seem to be in difficulty, it’s always leaders like Højbjerg that seem to be able to dig in their heels and act with assertiveness to get a handle back on the game. Against Nantes this was clear to see, especially against an FCN side that were smartly compact in midfield and were blocking any sort of passing routes involving the classic De Zerbi third-man system. Højbjerg knew this and came along with an intensity and tackling power that at times carried his side. Despite that, he was at other moments found wanting in passing play and offensive duties.

Adrien Rabiot – 5The Frenchman thought he scored the opener, and did so well to harass that Nantes defence and get into some really promising positions. Yet there was a certain amount of efficiency missing, and the Frenchman in turn was not as heavily involved – mainly due to Nantes’ very organised defensive structure.

Amine Gouiri – 6Roberto De Zerbi has said that the Algerian needs to ‘fully convert into a full-blown number 9,‘ and harkened comparisons to a certain Gonzalo Higuain. You can tell there has been some progress on this front, with Gouiri being less involved in build-up play but making the decisive blow when it matters. Valentin Rongier did exceptionally well to get the ball into a great position for Gouiri to simply finish low into the back of the net. After all, that was why he was brought to OM, right?

Mason Greenwood – 5There was some talk of the Englishman being less effective in the second half of this season. Quite frankly, he has been ticking along with the goals since the turn of the year without really the same impact and confidence that he initially had when he joined the club this summer. His general build-up play was woeful against Nantes, but all great players can provide the decisive spark even when they aren’t at their very best, and Greenwood provided a moment of real danger with his driving run and electric pace bearing down on the Nantes defence. Sure, the ball fell kindly for him to trundle through, but he finally provided a deadly killer finish which put the result beyond doubt and calmed the nerves at the Vélodrome. Others (Bench): Pol Lirola – 5

The Spaniard came on following Amir Murillo’s injury, and proved a solid replacement but struggled to be as fluid in OM’s passing game which was a tad below par for much of the 90 minutes against Nantes.GFFN | George Boxall – Reporting from the Stade Vélodrome, Marseille