Europa League: Marseille Defeats AEK Athens

AEK Athens' unfortunate streak against French teams extended to just one victory in 20 matches, as they suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Marseille. This loss marked Marseille's first win in the UEFA Europa League campaign.

When facing Marseille under the management of Gennaro Gattuso, the early stages of the game were characterized by a lot of intricate passing, with both teams cautiously assessing each other.

Marseille seemed to shine a bit brighter, taking the initiative and creating the first notable scoring opportunity in the middle of the first half. Iliman Ndiaye's powerful shot was thwarted by a great save from Cican Stankovic at the near post.

Marseille did eventually break through, but their opening goal was surrounded by controversy.

The Orange Velodrome erupted in celebration when Jonathan Clauss set up Vitinha for a goal, although doubts lingered due to Domagoj Vida's fall during the play. After an extensive review by VAR, Marseille's goal was confirmed. Fortune favored the home team with VAR once more before halftime, as an offside decision against Steven Zuber prevented AEK from going into the break on level terms.

Nevertheless, AEK managed to turn their luck around after the halftime break. Petros Mantalos's pass found the unmarked Orbelín Pineda, who capitalized on a rebound from his initial misdirected shot to score the equalizer.

What occurred next was quite unexpected. AEK contributed to their own downfall when Cican Stankovic handed the ball to Vitinha in his own penalty area and brought him down, resulting in his dismissal. The woes continued for AEK as Amine Harit confidently converted the subsequent penalty.

AEK's troubles persisted when Nordin Amrabat fouled Renan Lodi in the penalty area, with Jordan Veretout converting the spot-kick this time.

Despite a comfortable two-goal lead, Marseille continued to press forward and believed they had added a fourth goal through Ismaïla Sarr, but an offside call couldn't overshadow what was an otherwise excellent evening for Marseille as they pursued advancement in the knockout stages.