Guessand Stars as Nice Beats Marseille 2-0 to Move Up to 4th Place in France

Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - OGC Nice v Olympique de Marseille - Allianz Riviera, Nice, France - January 26, 2025 OGC Nice's Evann Guessand in action REUTERS/Manon Cruz
Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - OGC Nice v Olympique de Marseille - Allianz Riviera, Nice, France - January 26, 2025 OGC Nice's Evann Guessand in action REUTERS/Manon Cruz
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Guessand Stars as Nice Beats Marseille 2-0 to Move Up to 4th Place in France

Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - OGC Nice v Olympique de Marseille - Allianz Riviera, Nice, France - January 26, 2025 OGC Nice's Evann Guessand in action REUTERS/Manon Cruz
Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - OGC Nice v Olympique de Marseille - Allianz Riviera, Nice, France - January 26, 2025 OGC Nice's Evann Guessand in action REUTERS/Manon Cruz

Striker Evann Guessand scored one goal and set up Mohamed-Ali Cho as Nice handed Marseille a 2-0 defeat to move up to fourth place in the French league on Sunday.
The loss also dented second-placed Marseille's flagging bid to catch Ligue 1 leader Paris Saint-Germain, which is 10 points clear. Nice is one point behind Monaco in third and four points adrift of Marseille, which lost for the fourth time this season.
It was a bad night for Marseille with the visitors' attack failing to click and its malfunctioning defense yet again conceding a soft goal, this time after seven minutes, The Associated Press reported.
Lilian Brassier carelessly lost the ball near midfield and, after winning it back, then got the ball caught in his feet as Guessand took it off him. Guessand sprinted through before adroitly clipping the ball over goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli, with Brassier trying to roll the ball off the line with his boot.
The second goal came in the 51st as Guessand expertly controlled the ball on his chest and advanced powerfully to the edge of the penalty area before passing to Cho, who finished neatly in the bottom right corner.
Earlier, striker Othmane Maamma came off the bench to score the decisive goal as Montpellier won 2-1 at Toulouse to move off the bottom of the league.
The 19-year-old Maamma headed in a pinpoint cross from creative midfielder Téji Savanier in the 83rd minute.
Midfielder Cristian Casseres gave Toulouse the lead in the 59th minute, but central defender Modibo Sagnan equalized three minutes later for Montpellier.
A second straight win put Montpellier into 17th place in the 18-team league and dropped Le Havre down to last.
Seventh-place Lens beat Angers 1-0 at home, with Facundo Medina setting up Poland winger Przemyslaw Frankowski for the only goal shortly after halftime.
Elsewhere, imposing striker Ludovic Ajorque found the net as eighth-placed Brest won 1-0 at Le Havre, boosting team confidence before facing Real Madrid on Wednesday in the final league-phase game of the Champions League.
On a low-scoring day, striker Mostafa Mohamed grabbed a last-minute goal for Nantes in a 1-1 home draw with Lyon.
Forward Ernest Nuamah put Lyon ahead in the 10th when he turned in Argentina left back Nicolás Tagliafico's first-time cross past former Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes.
PSG remains unbeaten but was held to a 1-1 home draw by Reims on Saturday, with new star signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia setting up PSG's goal on his debut.



Lyon's Attack Looks Sharp Under New Coach Fonseca

Lyon's Georgian forward #69 Georges Mikautadze celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Montpellier Herault SC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, southern France on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP)
Lyon's Georgian forward #69 Georges Mikautadze celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Montpellier Herault SC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, southern France on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP)
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Lyon's Attack Looks Sharp Under New Coach Fonseca

Lyon's Georgian forward #69 Georges Mikautadze celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Montpellier Herault SC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, southern France on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP)
Lyon's Georgian forward #69 Georges Mikautadze celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Montpellier Herault SC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, southern France on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP)

After 10 goals in three games, new coach Paulo Fonseca's pledge to bring attacking soccer back to Lyon is holding firm.
Sunday's 4-1 win at Montpellier in Ligue 1 saw four different Lyon players on target for the second straight game, The Associated Press reported.
After being involved in all four Lyon goals against Reims last weekend, Rayan Cherki took only three minutes to set up Georgia's Georges Mikautadze for the opener.
Forward Tanguy Coulibaly equalized for last-placed Montpellier shortly before halftime, but Lyon pulled away early in the second half. Ernest Nuamah scored and three minutes later set up rejuvenated midfielder Corentin Tolisso, who has netted in every game under Fonseca.
Under previous coach Pierre Sage, the team was looking laborious and had scored only five goals in six games without a win before he was fired.
Veteran striker Alexandre Lacazette completed the rout in the 73rd minute for Lyon, which stayed in sixth place because Lille won 2-0 at Rennes in Sunday's late game to retain fifth spot.
The race for third place promises to be intense, with Nice reclaiming it from Riviera rival Monaco on goal difference after winning 3-1 at lowly Le Havre.
Both Nice and Monaco have 40 points and trail second-place Marseille by six points.
Striker Gaëtan Laborde sent Nice ahead in the 16th minute and an own-goal from Étienne Youté two minutes later put Nice in control. Yassine Kechta pulled a goal back soon after but Sofiane Diop made it 3-1 in stoppage time.
Coach Liam Rosenior's Strasbourg won 2-0 at Lens to leapfrog the northern side — also on goal difference — and move into seventh place, with Dutch striker Emanuel Emegha grabbing his 10th goal of the season.
Algerian winger Farid El Melali scored the only goal as Angers won 1-0 at Reims. The two sides meet again in the French Cup quarterfinals on Feb. 25.
Bentaleb's poignant goal After poking in Lille's opening goal from close range following a corner, Nabil Bentaleb sprinted to the bench and was hugged by everyone there.
With good reason.
The Algeria midfielder only started training again last month after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest in mid-June last year. He was put into an artificial coma and fitted with a pacemaker-defibrillator days later.
Lille's top scorer Jonathan David was rested for this game and his replacement penalty-taker missed from the spot. Chuba Akpom's effort in the 44th was saved by goalkeeper Brice Samba.
The English striker then had a goal disallowed midway through the second half for an offside. But Akpom's perseverance led to a red card for defender Christopher Wooh, who fouled him in the 75th, and the sending off opened up the game for the visitors.
The former Tottenham and Schalke midfielder Bentaleb scored five minutes later — prompting a big smile from Lille coach Bruno Genesio — and Akpom was played in by Mitchel Bakker six minutes later against 13th-placed Rennes.
After the final whistle, Lille's players urged Bentaleb to go toward the traveling supporters, who applauded him.
“It’s incredible. These images will remain engraved for life,” Bentaleb told match broadcaster DAZN. “There are things that are not forgotten and that I will not forget when I stop playing football.”
Runaway leader PSG scraped a 1-0 win at Toulouse on Saturday to stay 10 points clear of free-scoring Marseille in second position.