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OL Marseille 3-0 Dortmund: Ayew double, Remy great-strike
Andre Ayew grabbed a brace whilst Loic Remy notched a fine goal of his own as Marseille strolled to a 3-0 Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund in France.
Ayew scored against the run of play in the opening half before Remy capitalised on a rare Matt Hummels error to take the French side to 2-0.
Ayew grabbed his second of the game from the penalty spot after French international Remy was fouled inside the penalty area.
Marseille weathered the storm in a rather uncomfortable opening 20 minutes where Mario Goetze should have scored one of his two chances.
The hosts soon found their feet though and proved to be the much better side during the opening 45 minutes.
It was the visiting side, who have been far superior domestically this season, that started in a much more positive manner.
Dortmund looked to control play instantly and passed the ball around well, pushing high up the pitch and forcing the Ligue 1 side to defend deep.
Despite that, it was Marseille that were the first side to have a decent chance when on the counter attack. Jeremy Morel tore down the left wing before cutting the ball back into the path of the onrushing Luch Gonzalez on the edge of the penalty area.
The attacking midfielder looked almost certain to at least hit the target but could only manage an air shot as he took his eye off the ball at a vital moment.
Dortmund continued in their dominance on the ball but were unable to find that killer ball to create a decent chance.
That was until the 19th minute when Mario Goetze was sent through on goal from a fine lobbed through ball. The 19-year-old raced into the box and checked his run from the left, beating the covering defender before sending the ball towards the far post.
Marseille’s keeper, Steve Mandanda, read it well though and flew to his left to beat the ball away. The hosts failed to clear their lines though, which allowed for Goetze to have another go. This time he elected to shoot towards the near post, but again Mandanda was on hand to make the save.
The hosts looked rattled, but just two minutes later they found themselves in the lead.
Matthieu Valbuena found Loic Remy mid-way into the Dortmund half with a clever reverse ball. Remy turned his man before squaring the ball to Ayew, who was standing on the left of the penalty area.
The left winger took one touch to take the ball away from his feet before unleashing a fierce drive past Roman Weidenfeller and into the far right-hand corner.
From then on, Marseille seemed to find their feet and looked in control of the opening half but were unable to create anything of real importance until the 37th minute when Ayew could have scored an almost identical goal.
This time it was Valbuena who fed the winger but Ayew’s shot was slightly too central which allowed for the Dortmund custodian to make a fine save down to his left.
It was quite obvious that Dortmund boss Juergen Klopp had a few words to say to his team at half time as they started the second half superbly.
They were very sharp when passing and were moving superbly well – proving too much for the hosts.
After seven second-half minutes the visitors could, and probably should have been level as Goetze spurned a superb chance.
Kevin Grosskreutz cut in from the left to send a whipped ball towards the far post. The 19-year-old German international, Goetze, stormed in unmarked but could only sidefoot the ball past Mandanda into the foot of the right post.
Dortmund continued to play the better football and looked the more likely of the two sides to score, but again they were caught on the break and conceded a second after 63 minutes.
Kabore clibbed a ball cross-field towards Remy but it seemed that covering defender Hummels was to cut out the pass. Instead, he made a mess of the clearance and played the ball into the path of the Marseille striker who took one touch on his chest before firing low into the bottom right hand corner.
Six minutes later and it was game over as the home side were awarded a penalty.
The ever-tricky Valbuena produced another display of silky footwork down the left to beat his man and race to the byline. The French winger cut the ball back into the path of Remy who controlled neatly before being bundled to the ground by Sebastian Kehl.
Ayew stepped up to take the spot kick, smashing it down the centre of the goal away from Weidenfeller who had dived to his right.
The game looked all but over, but the visitors kept on plugging away and were unfortunate not to grab a late consolation – and their first goal in France in four attempts.
The dangerous Goetze forced Mandanda into a smart stop after 70 minutes with a fine glancing header towards the far post.
Jakub Blaszczkykowski was then introduced and was immediately in the thick of the action as he rose highest in the penalty area to meet Goetze’s corner. The imposing striker could only head his effort over the bar from 10 yards though.
With just two minutes to go, the Dortmund forward went even closer as he again beat the covering defender in the air to meet fellow substitute Lucas Barrios’ centre. The Polish striker, who has Kuba on the back of his shirt, beat Mandanda with the effort but failed to beat the crossbar.
The only factor that marred an impressive victory for the Ligue 1 side was that late substitute Jordan Ayew, brother of Andre, was sent off for two yellow cards; a sloppy challenge and quite ridiculous dive in the 90th minute.
Joshua Hayward - on Twitter @JoshuaHayward99 / Eurosport
Team Line-up:
Marseille: Mandanda, Azpilicueta, N'Koulou, Morel, Diawara, Diarra, González, Kaboré, Valbuena, Rémy, Ayew. Subs: Bracigliano, Sabo, Amalfitano, J Ayew, Omrani, Gadi, Barrios
Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Subotić, Hummels, Piszczek, Schmelzer, Kehl, Götze, Grosskreutz, Bender, Kagawa. Subs: Langerak, Santana, da Silva, Błaszczykowski, GündoÄŸan, Perišić.
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