Safonov, Zaïre-Emery, Marquinhos (c), Pacho, Mendes, Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz (Akliouche, 65'), Doué (Beraldo, 77'), Dembélé (Godts, 77'), Kvaratskhelia (Ferran, 59').
While Les Marseillais gave a good account of themselves in the opening few minutes of this hotly anticipated derby, the visitors were the ones who were gradually beginning to dictate the play. In fact, Les Rouge et Bleu gave Marseille keeper Jeffrey de Lange a slight scare in the 12th minute, when Ousmane Dembélé's lob fell just behind the crossbar.
This momentum would stay with the capital club until the half-hour mark, when the hosts responded with a strong spell of their own. In the 38th minute, Amine Gouiri took advantage of a lucky deflection to play in Neal Maupay, but the Frenchman miscued his effort on goal. With each duel becoming more and more intense, Paris again gained ground in the Marseille half of the pitch shortly before the break, with the ball finding its way towards Dembélé inside the penalty area but not quite far enough for our no. 10 to meet it with his head.
After the restart, Les Parisiens continued their hunt for an opener, as demonstrated by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's 52nd-minute backheel attempt, which hit the base of the post following a superb team move, before João Neves saw his header fly just over the target. Luis Enrique's men just needed a slice of luck, but when Désiré Doué's shot briefly after the hour mark didn't quite find the top corner of de Lange's net, it looked as though that luck wasn't going to come. At the other end, the home side remained alert for the slightest opportunity, despite Maupay again failing to take a glorious chance to score.
A crazy final half-hour would then begin. From Doué's magnificent cross, Ferran Torres opened the scoring with a header (0–1, 66') not long before Angel Gomes pulled Marseille level (1–1, 72'). The home crowd's joy would be short-lived, however, not only because Paris captain Marquinhos restored his side's lead (1–2, 74') but also because OM finished the game with ten men after Timothy Weah picked up a second yellow card. At the final whistle, then, the first Classique of the season went the way of Paris Saint-Germain!
The unbridled joy of our skipper, Marquinhos, who silenced the CEPAC Vélodrome by scoring the goal that won Le Classique for Les Rouge et Bleu!
