Bottles thrown, match delayed as Marseille retaliates

Marseille came back two fewer goals to win 3-2 at Montpellier in their French Ligue 1 debut on Sunday, but the game was delayed when fans bombarded the pitch with bottles.

The shock at the Mosson stadium was stopped in the 89th minute after Marseille substitute Valentin Rongier was hit in the head with a bottle.

Florent Mollet from Montpellier was also targeted as he was about to take a corner.

Referee Jérémie Pignard led the two teams off the field as appeals for calm were made.

The game was finally restarted after a 10 minute delay.

“It’s always unfortunate because it penalizes everyone. The referee did what he had to do. It’s always a little sad to see this kind of thing,” said Montpellier coach Olivier Dall ‘ Oglio.

The derby was played in front of 13,500 fans as the first weekend of the new season saw the return of spectators after seven months of games played behind closed doors due to the pandemic.

An own goal from Luan Perez and a strike from Gaetan Laborde gave Montpellier a 2-0 lead at halftime.

But Cengiz Under pulled out a goal for Marseille in the 67th minute before two goals in five minutes from Dimitri Payet completed the recovery.

Earlier, Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz was hailed as “a true leader” after scoring a final goal as Lille fought 3-3 at Metz as the French champions opened their title defense.

The surprise champions, who also beat Paris Saint-Germain in the Supercopa de France last week, were down 3-1 before late goals from Nanitamo Ikone and Turkish national team captain Yilmaz gave them a hard point. won outside.

It was an uplifting tale for Metz who stupidly gave the ball away with a shot on goal deep into added time.

Yilmaz then raged the full length of the pitch with the seconds passed to dribble into the area from the left wing and tighten a home shot from a tight angle.

“He’s a real leader,” Lille coach Jocelyn Gourvennec said of Yilmaz.

“He’s a real professional, a real athlete and he works so hard when the chips are low.”

Lille captain Jose Fonte was furious after allowing three goals.

“It’s not good and I’m not happy. But after that we showed why we are champions,” said the Portugal international.

Christophe Galtier led Lille to the title last season but resigned and joined the ambitious team from the south coast of Nice.

However, there was not to be a champagne reception in their first game as the Ineos-funded side were held 0-0 at home by Reims.

In Brittany, 18,000 fans were on hand to see Rennes draw 1-1 with promoted Lens, where Ghana’s teenage winger Kamaldeen Sulemana opened the scoring with an instant shot before Lens equalized late after a confusion start.

The promoted Clermont came out on a flyer beating Bordeaux 2-0 away thanks to late goals from Ligue 2 top scorer last season Mohamed Bayo and Jodel Dossou with the last kick of the match.

Strasbourg also suffered a 2-0 home defeat as Ismael Traore and Stéphane Bahoken scored second-half goals for the visitors from Angers.

Lorient took the lead with a strike from Vincent Le Goff in a close match at Saint-Etienne, who equalized from the penalty spot with a penalty from Wahbi Khazri.

Paris Saint-Germain may be getting closer to signing Lionel Messi, but another Argentinian won the game on Saturday as Mauro Icardi’s goal secured a 2-1 victory over newly promoted Troyes.

Lyon were held in check 1-1 by Brest.

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