Marseille save French face in Europa League

Olympique de Marseille were the only Ligue 1 Conforama side to get anything from Thursday’s UEFA Europa League ties as Girondins de Bordeaux and Stade Rennais FC were both beaten on a disappointing night.

 Apollon Limassol 2-2 Olympique de Marseille 

Marseille opened their Group H account, but would have been hoping for all three points from their trip to Cyprus.

Kostas Mitroglou went close (2′) and home goalkeeper Bruno Vale turned away a Luiz Gustavo volley (21′) in a strong opening from the visitors.

Yohann Pelé needed to make a smart save to keep an Emilio Zelaya header out before the break (38′) before Dimitri Payet brilliantly broke the deadlock (50′). The France international skipped around the challenge of Richard Soumah before firing past a powerless Vale to add another continental classic to his collection.

The visitors doubled that advantage through a Gustavo piledriver (67′), but Sasa Markovic soon replied to keep the hosts in it (74′) — Pelé had no hope of keeping out a powerful shot that arrowed into the top corner.

Fotis Papoulis shot just wide (77′) as the hosts pressed, and Marseille cracked with just seconds left – Zelaya, this time, firing home after bypassing Duje Caleta-Car (90+1′) to leave Rudi Garcia’s men deflated.

 Bordeaux 1-2 Copenhagen 

Bordeaux have now not won any of their last 11 UEFA Europa League group stage games after slipping to a last-gasp defeat against Copenhagen.

Pieros Sotiriou opened the scoring with a header just before the break (42′), but Bordeaux might have gone ahead themselves — François Kamano hitting the woodwork (30′) before passing up the chance to level from the penalty spot seconds before the break (45+4′).

Yann Karamoh twice lost out in one-on-one confrontations with FCK goalkeeper Stephan Andersen (63′, 73′)

Aurélien Tchouaméni was also denied by the woodwork (81′) before Younousse Sankharé’s superb shot deservedly drew Bordeaux level (84′). The Danish visitors were not finished though with Robert Skov dashing Bordeaux hopes of a first point (90+2′) to leave the French club bottom of Group C ahead of a double-header with Zenit St. Petersburg.

 Astana 2-0 Rennes 

Rennes surrendered top spot in Group K to their Kazakh opponents after a lacklustre display.

Though Clément Grenier threatened with a free-kick (58′), the hosts never looked in serious trouble, and went in front through Baktiyor Zainutdinov’s header (64′).

Sabri Lamouchi’s side pushed as time ticked down — Benjamin André forced a save from Eric in the home goal (84′) before Ramy Bensebaini struck a post (86′). But only the hosts, through Marin Tomasov’s solo effort, added to the scoreline (90+1′).

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