Monaco’s Denis Zakaria was sent off in a relentlessly physical game
Sylvain THOMAS
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Monaco had two men sent off but dug in for a 2-2 draw at Marseille in a pulsating Ligue 1 scrap in front of over 63,000 fans at the Stade Velodrome on Saturday.
The result leaves Monaco third and Gennaro Gattuso’s gritty Marseille fifth, after a pulsating game between the south coast rivals
Marseille remain unbeaten at home this season but Monaco centre-forward Wissam Ben Yedder gave the visitors the lead on seven minutes.
But Ben Yedder’s left foot strike from the edge of the box was followed swiftly with a straight red for Guillermo Maripan for holding Vitinha on ten minutes.
Roving Marseille striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang levelled to 1-1 on 39 minutes on a noisy night at the Velodrome after an off-side decision on his close range tap in was overruled by VAR.
Shortly before half-time though Monaco went 2-1 up when Ben Yedder put the elegant Maghnes Akliouche through on a counter-attack with a fine cross shot.
Marseille came out fighting in the second half and their Argentine central defender Leonardo Balerdi made it 2-2 after rampaging forward as his low drive flew in from 25-yards.
Monaco went down to nine men when Denis Zakaria got his marching orders for a second yellow for a clumsy tackle, but Adi Huetter’s outfit held the line well to play out for a hard earned point.
Earlier, French Riviera outfit Nice edged 1-0 past visitors Metz to climb second while on Sunday leaders Paris Saint-Germain host Brittany high-flyers Brest who started the weekend third after a run of six wins in seven games.
