Mason Greenwood struck late to send Marseille back into the Ligue 1 Champions League places, sealing a dramatic 1-0 victory over Monaco at the Orange Vélodrome on Sunday.
The decisive moment arrived in the 82nd minute, barely a minute after Monaco had a goal ruled out, capping a breathless finale to a fiercely contested encounter.
Greenwood’s finish ultimately separated the sides after a match defined by fine margins and VAR interventions.
Marseille almost broke the deadlock early on when Emerson’s deflected cross fell invitingly to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang inside the box, but Lukas Hradecky reacted superbly to claw the striker’s close-range effort over the bar.
Monaco found attacking fluency hard to come by for much of the first half, yet they ended the period strongly. Folarin Balogun saw a goalbound effort hacked off the line by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, before Aleksandr Golovin’s curling strike was comfortably gathered by Geronimo Rulli.
The visitors thought they had taken the lead shortly after the interval when Lamine Camara finished smartly, only for the goal to be disallowed due to Balogun straying offside in the build-up.
That reprieve appeared to lift Marseille, who began to apply sustained pressure, with Greenwood testing Hradecky from range before the Monaco goalkeeper again denied Aubameyang.
Another Monaco breakthrough seemed to arrive 10 minutes from time when Balogun latched onto Maghnes Akliouche’s through ball and chipped Rulli, but VAR intervened once more to rule the effort out for offside.
Moments later, Marseille struck decisively. Hojbjerg’s cutback from the left found Greenwood, who rifled an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to ignite the Vélodrome.
Monaco pushed for an equaliser in stoppage time and came agonisingly close when substitute Mika Biereth rounded Rulli, but Nayef Aguerd produced a last-ditch block on the goal line to preserve Marseille’s advantage.
The victory was vital for Roberto De Zerbi’s side after two winless league outings, and once again their home form proved decisive. Marseille have now scored 56 Ligue 1 goals at the Orange Vélodrome in 2025, their best return in a calendar year since 1971.
Despite the narrow scoreline, the contest was wide open, with Marseille posting an expected goals (xG) figure of 1.86 from 18 shots, compared to Monaco’s 2.12 from the same number of attempts.
Greenwood was the standout performer, leading Marseille for shots (seven), touches in the opposition box (eight), chances created (four) and passes in the final third (26), underlining his match-winning influence.
