Marseille put four first-half goals past Angers on way to Ligue 1 thrashing

Marseille's Timothy Weah (right) celebrates after scoring against Angers
Marseille's Timothy Weah (right) celebrates after scoring against AngersJEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP

A rampant first-half display helped Olympique de Marseille to a convincing 5-2 win over Angers SCO, extending their dominant record in Ligue 1 meetings to just one defeat in 19 meetings (W9, D9).

Buoyed by a morale-boosting 9-0 win over Bayeux in the Coupe de France in midweek, Marseille started on the front foot here.

Timothy Weah, Amine Gouiri and Hamed Traore all went close to scoring in the opening 10 minutes, but the visitors didn’t have to wait long for a breakthrough.

Michael Murillo’s dangerous low delivery into the box was perfect for Gouiri, who stretched out a leg to convert beyond Herve Koffi for his second league goal of the season.

Marseille continued to dominate proceedings, and they doubled their lead just five minutes later when Mason Greenwood played a sharp one-two with Emerson Palmieri before curling a clinical strike into the bottom corner from 18 yards.

Key match stats
Key match statsOpta by StatsPerform

The one-way traffic showed no signs of slowing down, with Roberto De Zerbi’s side adding two more goals before half-time.

First, Traore swept a superb finish past Koffi from another Emerson assist, and six minutes later, Weah headed home from inside the six-yard box after an inch-perfect Traore cross.

Angers reduced the arrears on the stroke of half-time through Amine Sbai’s close-range effort, but that did little to stem the visitors’ momentum as Greenwood hit the bar at the start of the second period.

With a blockbuster UEFA Champions League clash against Liverpool to come on Wednesday, De Zerbi rotated several of his star players as time ticked into the final half-hour.

Nevertheless, Marseille remained a threat in the final third, and after substitute Igor Paixao twice went close to making an immediate impact, the Brazilian added his side’s fifth in the 88th minute with a composed right-footed finish beyond Koffi.

There was still time for the hosts to net a stoppage-time consolation through Jim Allevinah, but it counted for little as Marseille cruised through the closing stages to strengthen their grip on what could be France’s third and final automatic UCL qualification spot.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Hamed Traore (Marseille)

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