Marseille wins 2-0 at Nantes to stay close to leader PSG

Wed, Feb 1, 2023
Soccer News (AP)

PARIS (AP) - Marseille kept in touch with French league leader Paris Saint-Germain by winning 2-0 at Nantes on Wednesday to extend its unbeaten run to 10 games overall.

Marseille scored in the 58th when Nantes central defender Joao Victor put the ball into his own net when tackling on-rushing winger Cengiz Under inside the penalty area. New signing Azzedine Ounahi, a midfielder with World Cup semifinalst Morocco, added the second goal in stoppage time on his Marseille debut.

Nantes had not conceded a goal in its seven previous games.

Marseille has won seven of its past eight league matches under coach Igor Tudor and was two points behind PSG and one ahead of Lens ahead of their matches later Wednesday.

PSG was at Montpellier and Lens hosted Nice.

Elsewhere, English striker Folarin Balogun, who equalized in stoppage time when Reims drew 1-1 at league leader Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday, grabbed a hat-trick in his team's 4-2 win against Lorient to move top of the scoring charts. His 14 goals put him one ahead of PSG striker Kylian Mbappe.

Balogun, who started his career at Premier League club Arsenal, netted his treble against goalkeeper Vito Mannone, who also began his career at Arsenal, and even went close to a fourth goal near the end.

Dutch striker Thijs Dallinga followed up his two goals for Toulouse last weekend with his team's first goal in a 4-1 win against Troyes.

Also, Clermont earned a 0-0 draw at Lille and last-place Angers lost 2-1 at home to fellow struggler Ajaccio, which scored in the fourth minute of injury time through striker Mounaïm El Idrissy.

Angers has lost a French league record 13 straight matches and has won only two of 21 this season.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports