French Ligue 1

Duo slip up in title race

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Brandao celebrates putting Marseille 2-0 up, but Lyon fought back to make it 2-2.

Scoring Summary

Marseille	Lyon
Benoit Cheyrou (16')	Bafetimbi Gomis (36')
Brandao (34')
Souleymane Diawara (og 45')

Match Stats

Marseille

Lyon

19(6)	Shots (on Goal)	11(5)
15	Fouls	16
5	Corner Kicks	3
1	Offsides	5
49%	Time of Possession	51%
1	Yellow Cards	3
0	Red Cards	0
4	Saves	4

Teams

Marseille	Lyon
30 Steve Mandanda	1 Hugo Lloris
3 Nicolas N'Koulou	23 Samuel Umtiti
21 Souleymane Diawara	4 Bakari Kone
15 Jérémy Morel	20 Aly Cissokho
2 César Azpilicueta	13 Anthony Reveillere
4 Alou Diarra	6 Kim Kallstrom
7 Benoit Cheyrou	21 Maxime Gonalons
12 Charles Kaboré	11 Michel Bastos
11 Loïc Remy	19 Jimmy Briand
9 Brandao	18 Bafetimbi Gomis
18 Morgan Amalfitano	9 Lisandro López
Substitutes
13 Djimi Traore	Cris 3
24 Rod Fanni	Yoann Gourcuff 8
1 Gennaro Bracigliano	Mathieu Valverde 50
26 Jean Philippe Sabo	Mouhamadou Dabo 14
29 Chris N'Kiasala	Honorato Campos Ederson 10
27 Larry Azouni	Grenier Clément 7
22 Wesley Jobello	Alexandre Lacazette 17
Substitutions
Rod Fanni for Souleymane Diawara (69)	Grenier Clément for Bafetimbi Gomis (63)
Djimi Traore for Charles Kaboré (83)
Yellow Cards
Souleymane Diawara (11)	Bakari Kone (39)
	Samuel Umtiti (65)
	Jimmy Briand (86)
· Squads: Marseille | Lyon

Marseille and Lyon both missed the chance to move firmly into the Ligue 1 title race as they battled out a 2-2 draw at the Stade Velodrome.

With Paris St Germain sitting pretty on 49 points in first place, a win for Marseille would have put them to within nine points and a victory for Lyon would have put them eight behind.

But after scoring twice each in an enthralling first half - Benoit Cheyrou and Evanilson Brandao put Marseille ahead before Bafetimbi Gomis and a Souleymane Diawara own goal levelled things up - neither side was able to take all three points.

Both were clearly going for broke, though, with Lyon the first to show their intent when Lisandro Lopez played in the eighth minute, only for the latter to see his effort saved by Steve Mandanda.

Marseille responded in the best possible fashion by taking the lead.

Charles Kabore played the ball to Cheyrou and, despite getting clogged up in penalty box traffic, he was able to fashion an opening and slot home.

Cheyrou`s free-kick then found Alou Diarra whose header was saved by Hugo Lloris, but the home side need not have worried, as they were two up 13 minutes before the break.

Brandao was the scorer, slamming in a fine volley that gave Lloris no chance after Morgan Amalfitano had picked him out.

But rather than consolidate their lead, Marseille surrendered it, conceding for a first time inside two minutes when Kim Kallstrom's corner was deflected into Gomis` path by Jimmy Briand, with Gomis doing the rest.

A second goal quickly followed, with the unfortunate Diawara putting through his own goal after a wicked cross from Aly Cissokho.

After such a frenetic opening half, the second started on a more understated footing, with the first chance arising after 54 minutes, with Lisandro and Briand linking up to play in Gomis, but this time his radar was out.

Kallstrom then worked Mandanda from the edge of the area, before Lloris produced a save of his own from a Diarra volley.

There was little to choose between the two sides and twice Lloris denied Loic Remy, but that was the last remaining action of the closing stages as both teams settled for a point.