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Ten-Man PSG Wins 2-0 at Marseille to Keep 12-Point Lead in French League

Football - Ligue 1 - Olympique de Marseille v Paris St Germain - Orange Velodrome, Marseille, France - March 31, 2024 Paris St Germain's Vitinha celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates. (Reuters)
Football - Ligue 1 - Olympique de Marseille v Paris St Germain - Orange Velodrome, Marseille, France - March 31, 2024 Paris St Germain's Vitinha celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates. (Reuters)
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Ten-Man PSG Wins 2-0 at Marseille to Keep 12-Point Lead in French League

Football - Ligue 1 - Olympique de Marseille v Paris St Germain - Orange Velodrome, Marseille, France - March 31, 2024 Paris St Germain's Vitinha celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates. (Reuters)
Football - Ligue 1 - Olympique de Marseille v Paris St Germain - Orange Velodrome, Marseille, France - March 31, 2024 Paris St Germain's Vitinha celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates. (Reuters)

Leader Paris Saint-Germain gave Marseille a lesson in clinical soccer and beat its bitter rival 2-0 in the French league’s “Le Classique” on Sunday despite playing with 10 men for more than half the match.

PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made several big saves after the interval when Marseille forwards tried their best to make the most of Lucas Beraldo’s red card in the 39th minute.

PSG, which kept its 12-point lead at the top of the standings, had just three shots on target but scored twice on the break with second-half goals from Vitinha and Gonçalo Ramos.

Looking for a first league win at home against PSG in more than 12 years, Marseille controlled early proceedings and bossed the midfield against a wasteful PSG. The hosts came close to taking the lead when Jordan Veretout hit the post and had the best chances.

PSG had a couple of opportunities before the interval, with Fabian Ruiz and Ousmane Dembelé missing the target.

Tempers frayed after Beraldo, who had already been booked, got a red card for a last-man challenge close to the halfway line following a VAR review, which left PSG players fuming.

PSG struck on the break in the 52nd minute after Vitinha found Dembelé down the right. The former Barcelona player crossed the ball back for the Portugal midfielder, who beat goalkeeper Pau Lopez with a precise shot to the bottom left corner.

In heavy rain, Marseille camped in PSG’s half looking for an equalizer. Veretout thought he had put the teams level in the 58th minute but his goal was disallowed for an offside position.

Marseille did not give up with forwards Faris Moumbagna and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang forcing saves from Donnarumma. However, Ramos sealed PSG’s win with five minutes left, assisted by Marco Asensio following a fast counterattack.

The fixture between PSG and Marseille became popular during the 1990s when the arrival of prominent players such as Rudi Voeller and George Weah ignited the rivalry. Marseille, the only French team to win the Champions League back in 1993, has fallen well behind since PSG was taken over by Qatari investors in 2011, but the game continues to stir up passion.

Brest keeps the pace

Forward Romain Del Castillo scored a late goal as Brest moved back into second place and stayed on course for a Champions League spot with a 1-0 win at Lorient.

Brest, the surprise package of the French season, was battered for long spells and relied on goalkeeper Marco Bizot to stay in the game.

Del Castillo bagged the winner with five minutes left with a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner from Kamory Doumbia’s assist. It was his sixth goal of the season.

Bizot made a final decisive save in the 90th minute to deny Darlin Yongwa’s header from close range.

Brest finished the match with 10 men following midfielder Billal Brahimi’s straight red card in added time for a dangerous tackle from behind.

The result moved Brest back into second place, one point above Monaco, which had leapfrogged the Brittany side with a 5-2 thrashing of Metz on Saturday.

Kombouare’s winning return

Nantes coach Antoine Kombouaré saw his team win 2-1 at Nice in his first match back in charge.

Kombouaré returned to Nantes earlier this month with the mission of avoiding relegation.

His first outing was a success as Nantes moved five points clear of the relegation zone. Matthis Abline ended a six-month scoring drought to put Nantes in the lead and Mostafa Mohamed scored the winner from the spot following Terem Moffi’s equalizer.

Kombouaré also had coaching stints with several other French clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain between 2009-11. Kombouaré was fired by PSG in December 2011 and was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti.

Montpellier also claimed a crucial win in the battle against relegation, winning 2-0 at 15th-place Le Havre with goals from Jordan Ferri and Christopher Jullien. Montpellier was in 13th place, one point above Nantes. Clermont lost 3-0 to Toulouse and remained in last place.

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Flotilla on Seine, Rain and Celine Dion Mark Start of Paris Olympics

Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Flotilla on Seine, Rain and Celine Dion Mark Start of Paris Olympics

Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Olympic Games open on Friday after a soaking wet ceremony in which athletes were cheered by the crowd along the Seine, dancers took to the roofs of Paris and Lady Gaga sang a French cabaret song.

France's three-time Olympic gold medalists Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner then lit the Olympic cauldron, suspended on a hot-air balloon, before Canada's Celine Dion sang Edith Piaf's "Hymn to Love", in her first public performance in years, drawing huge cheers from the crowd.

The 30-meter (98 ft) high balloon carrying a 7-meter diameter ring of fire took to the air and was hovering dozens of meters above the ground.

It will be in the air from sunset until 2 am local time every day, organizers said.

"We are so proud of this show, I'm so proud that sport and culture were celebrated in such a fantastic manner tonight, it was a first and the result was fantastic despite the rain," Paris 2024 organizing president Tony Estanguet told reporters.

A fleet of barges took the competitors on a 6 km-stretch of the river alongside some of the French capital's most famous landmarks, as performers recreated some of the sports to be showcased in the Games on floating platforms.

It was the first time that an opening ceremony has taken place outside a stadium, adding to the headaches for a vast security operation, just hours after a sabotage attack on the high-speed TGV rail network caused travel chaos across France.

"I invite everybody: dream with us. Like the Olympic athletes, be inspired with the joy that only sport can give us. Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living in peace," International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach said as the ceremony came to an end at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

More than 10,500 athletes will compete at the Olympics, 100 years since Paris last staged the Games. Competition started on Wednesday and the first of the 329 gold medals will be awarded on Saturday.

As the show started four hours earlier, a giant plume of blue, white and red smoke, resembling the French flag, was sent high above a bridge over the Seine as part of a show that included many postcard-like depictions of France, including a huge cancan line performed by Moulin Rouge dancers on the banks.

A more modern image of the country was on display when French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura, the most-listened to French female singer in the world, sang some of her biggest hits, accompanied by the French Republican Guard's army choir.

Nakamura's performance drew some of the ceremony's biggest cheers. Rumors of her inclusion had sparked a row over French identity, with supporters saying she represented the vibrancy of modern-day France while her detractors said her music owes more to foreign influences than French.

POURING RAIN

While the celebration of French culture, fashion and history was warmly cheered by many of the 300,000 spectators lining the river, hundreds were seen leaving early as the rain fell.

"It was good other than the rain, it was nice, it was different, instead of being in a stadium being on the river, so that's always a good thing - interesting, unique," said Avid Pureval, 34, who came to the Games from Ohio.

"Once you're wet, it's fine," he said. Still, he was heading back to his hotel after the French boat passed, long before the ceremony ended.

"It would have been better with sun," said Josephine, from Paris, sitting beside her 9-year-old daughter and who paid 1,600 euros ($1,736) for her seat.

With many world leaders and VIPs present, the ceremony was protected by snipers on rooftops. The Seine's riverbed was swept for bombs, and Paris' airspace was closed.

Some 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers were deployed in a huge security operation in Paris for the ceremony. Armed police patrolled along the river in inflatable boats as the armada made its passage along the Seine.

WELCOMED IN TAHITI

A mix of French and international stars, including soccer great Zinedine Zidane, 14-times French Open champion Rafa Nadal, 23-times Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and three paralympic athletes were among the last torchbearers before the cauldron was lit.

It will blaze until the closing ceremony on Aug. 11.

At the start of the parade, applause erupted for the Greek boat - the first delegation, by tradition - and there were even bigger cheers for the boat that followed, carrying the refugees' team. The French, US and Ukrainian delegations also got loud cheers.

The two most decorated athletes in the Games' history, Michael Phelps and Martin Fourcade, unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals.

At one point, there was a live crossover to the early morning welcome ceremony at the surfing venue, 16,000 km away in the Pacific island of Tahiti.

ISRAEL DELEGATION

France is at its highest level of security, though officials have repeatedly said there was no specific threat to the opening ceremony or the Games.

But since the last Games - the Winter Olympics held in Beijing in 2022 - wars have erupted in Ukraine and Gaza, providing a tense international backdrop.

Israeli competitors are being escorted by elite tactical units to and from events and are given 24-hour protection throughout the Olympics due to the war in Gaza, officials say.

The Israel delegation got some boos, but also a lot of cheers, as it sailed by spectators, Reuters reporters saw. Chants of "Palestine! Palestine! Palestine!" rose from the crowd as the boat passed.

Macron, who won a second mandate two years ago, had hoped the Olympics would cement his legacy. But his failed bet on a snap legislative election has weakened him and cast a shadow over his moment on the international stage.