Marseille scrape past Le Havre to end winless run & keep hopes of European football alive

[p]Having kept their head above water in the relegation battle with five consecutive draws, the home side started brightly in search of a win that could secure their Ligue 1 status for another season.[/p][p]In their way stood [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/marseille/SblU3Hee/"]Marseille[/a], who were desperate for three points to boost their European hopes, but that wasn’t evident throughout the first half as they struggled to turn possession into chances.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/le-havre/CIEe04GT/"]Le Havre[/a] did look dangerous on the counter-attack, but Mbwana Samatta could only fizz a shot directly at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rulli-geronimo/rcbM0Dd8/"]Geronimo Rulli[/a] in the game’s first real opening.[/p][p]With the game descending into a combative affair, chances remained at a premium, but Rulli did have to remain alert. The shot-stopper made a big save before half-time to thwart [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lloris-gautier/pMUGrcL4/"]Gautier Lloris[/a] from close range as he slid to connect with a free-kick, and he followed that up with an impressive save to deny [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/seko-ayumu/W2j0scZO/"]Ayumu Seko[/a] from tapping home from an offside position.[/p][p][b]The visitors stepped things up after the break and found the breakthrough on 55 minutes. Following a VAR review, it was ruled that [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/douath-lucas/vuK0U09c/"]Lucas Gourna-Douath[/a] had blocked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/greenwood-mason/hxe108Jl/"]Mason Greenwood[/a]’s free-kick with his elbow, and OM’s top scorer converted the resultant penalty via the post. [/b][/p][embed guid="7792518c-0dc6-437e-82b0-c284c785ab2a" url="https://x.com/OM_English/status/2053572376147767322" social-type="twitter" /][p]That only appeared to inspire the hosts, however, and they won a penalty of their own with 20 minutes to go. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/boufal-sofiane/zVuamHC5/"]Sofiane Boufal[/a]’s trickery coaxed a careless challenge from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/medina-facundo/tEuOUQT3/"]Facundo Medina[/a], and he assumed responsibility from the spot but smacked the crossbar, watching on in anguish as Rulli scrambled to clear [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/soumare-issa/futJjw50/"]Issa Soumaré[/a]’s follow-up header.[/p][p]That miss did appear to stunt the hosts' momentum, especially as the home crowd began to learn that results elsewhere were not going their way.[/p][p]Le Havre pushed for a leveller, but ultimately came up short as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/paixao-igor/EuBBEVVq/"]Igor Paixao[/a] was denied a second for Marseille with a disallowed goal deep in stoppage time.[/p][p]Although their top-four hopes are over, Marseille jump into the top six with this victory and have European qualification in their own hands.[/p][p]Le Havre’s fate is also in their control as they remain outside the bottom three, but the cushion over the relegation play-off spot is cut to one point, meaning a nervy final day awaits.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/emerson/MHViZ5fg/"]Emerson Palmieri[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/marseille/SblU3Hee/"]Marseille[/a]) [/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/auxerre-MTLr36WA/nice-YagoQJpq/summary/stats/?mid=OvkE7Nz2"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Le Havre vs Marseille xG" id="1aee15da-dcbf-45d9-b721-f29501f9931d" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="90a96e18-1918-42a2-bb93-f5cf4105ef66" original-width="1291" original-height="575" /]