With a determined and realistic performance, OM put an end to Nice's invincibility at the Stade du Ray. A victory which pushes OM up to 5th place in the League.

The precious win over Nice came from a blood and guts performance by OM. «You need to use your heart and your head to win a derby » confided Bolo Zenden with us before the game and his teammates managed to find the right balance of this mixture. They needed heart to head into this ferocious battle and to save themselves with Nice throwing everything at them and Modeste playing out of his skin. Once again with his back to the wall, Mandanda was outstanding.
They also used their heads to score goals at key moments of the game. The first from Niang half way through the 1st half and the 2nd from Cissé with 15 minutes remaining on the clock just when Nice were causing the Marseille defence all kinds of trouble. A third away win for OM this season, the first since the 11th of November, which rockets OM up the table to 5th place level with Valenciennes. Marseille are now only 6 points away from the 3rd placed team.

The game was far from a walk in the park though. Everyone expected a tough game and it was right from the start. A large amount of fouls were commited and Marseille did not come out best, mostly because of the speed and engagement of the young Nice forward Modeste who managed to have yellow cards shown to three OM defenders (Givet, Faty, Krupoviesa). The opening minutes of the game were tricky and could have been disastrous for OM if Mandanda had not pulled off a great save from an Ederson volley in the 15th minute.
Nice had many free kicks but were unable to profit from them, OM on the other hand used perfectly one of their rare set pieces in the 25th minute, Valbuena firing strongly into the box saw Cana lay the ball off perfectly to Niang who only had to push the ball into the open net (25th, 0-1). The Senegalese player marked his return in the best possible fashion and gave his team some breathing space. Once again using a 4-4-2 formation as has become frequent these last few weeks Niang played alongside Cissé up front with Valbuena sitting behind them, OM managed to snuff out the fire Nice had been playing with and could have made it worse for them when a Cissé shot was just saved by Lloris (43rd).
After the break, Mandanda took over duties by saving a freekick from Ederson (49th) then using his feet to clear the ball after Modeste broke through (56th). Not that this made OM panic though as they kept the danger on Nice through Cissé, just called offside (57th) he then saw a volley go just wide of the uprights (68th). However OM felt the heat again following a barrage of shots from Nice in a very short space of time, the Marseille defence held firm though and Mandanda at the top of his art pulled off a save from Modeste effort (72nd). Cissé came to his team’s rescue at this difficult time, Niang had been replaced by Akalé causing a tactical shuffle, Taiwo – who had replaced Krupoviesa at half time – sent in a strong cross which Lloris could only push into the feet of Cissé who then fired home (0-2, 76th). So a third win in a row in the League for Marseille which continues OM’s climb up the table, they are now only 6 points from the podium.

Emmanuel Jean

• The last time Nice lost at the Stade du Ray was on the 24th of January 2007 against Toulouse
• Djibril Cissé scored his 8th goal in six games (in all competitions).
• Next game for OM, Wednesday night against Spartak Moscow in the UEFA Cup (20h45 at the Vélodrome)