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Ocampos brace helps Marseille stun Nice

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Paris: Ten-man Marseille moved up to third in Ligue 1 after Lucas Ocampos hit a brace in a thrilling come-from-behind 4-2 win at Mediterranean rivals Nice on Sunday.


Players joined fans in a minute’s applause in memory of the two victims of a knife attack in Marseille earlier on Sunday, after which the south coast rivals put on a sparkling show.


In an entertaining first half, Marseille hit back from two goals down to head into the break leading 3-2.


Mario Balotelli opened the scoring with a close-range header from a Pierre Lees-Melou corner after just four minutes while Jean Michael Serri doubled Nice’s advantage with a heavily-deflected shot from outside the area.


Ocampos bagged his first soon before the half hour mark, prodding in from close range after Nice’s defence failed to deal with a cross.


Allan Saint-Maximin blazed over when one-on-one with goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and Nice were made to pay.


Five minutes from the break, a sliding Lees-Melou deflected a Florian Thauvin cross past his own goalkeeper.


And in the final minute of the half, Nice imploded again as captain Dante gave away the ball and goalkeeper Yoann Cardinale parried Luiz Gustavo’s shot weakly into the air for Ocampos to nod over the line.


Two minutes into the second period, more sloppy play handed Gustavo a shooting opportunity the Brazilian gleefully accepted to find the bottom corner.


Midway through the half, though, Gustavo was shown a straight red for following through studs up on Lees-Melou.


There was still time for Mandanda to save an Alassane Plea penalty after Saint-Maximin was tripped in the box but Marseille held out.


“It’s a great victory, we showed that we had character,” said Ocampos. “We wanted to show that the 6-1 loss to Monaco was an accident, that it wasn’t fair.” Earlier, Marcelo was controversially sent off as Lyon’s winless streak extended to five matches after letting a two-goal lead slip in a 3-3 draw at Angers.


— AFP


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