The Game Turned Late
MARSEILLE — Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang proved yet again that the instinct to finish never truly leaves a striker. The 36-year-old scored twice in the final 10 minutes, turning a deficit into a pulsating 3-2 victory over Lyon at Stade Velodrome and keeping Marseille within touching distance of the Champions League places.
Lyon had looked comfortable after Rémi Himbert, an 18-year-old winger, netted his first career goal in the 76th minute to restore the visitors' lead. Marseille had already equalized through Brazilian winger Igor Paixão's brilliant curler in the 52nd, but Lyon keeper Geronimo Rulli had been largely untested until then.
The record does not need much decoration; it already does the talking.
Aubameyang, who spent prolific years at Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal, did what veterans do best: he appeared when the game was slipping away. He met Paixão's looping pass with a calm low finish in the 81st, then slid onto Ethan Nwaneri's left-wing cross for the winner.
The Small Details Added Up
The result leaves Lyon third in Ligue 1, only two points above fourth-place Marseille with 10 games remaining. Lyon has now lost two straight matches after a 13-game winning run ended last weekend. For Marseille, newly appointed coach Habib Beye will take the three points, though his side's careless start — losing the ball on the left flank inside the third minute — offered Corentin Tolisso an easy opening that the Lyon midfielder clipped past Rulli from 10 meters.
There was a brief scare for Lyon when teenage Brazil star Endrick needed treatment after an overhead kick struck the right side of his head. He recovered to nearly add a second shortly after, bamboozling the defense with close control before shooting over the bar.
Mason Greenwood, meanwhile, failed to convert several promising positions for Marseille. The match produced eight minutes of first-half stoppage time as challenges thudded in, and Tolisso had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside in the build-up to Paixão's equalizer.
The Table Looks Different
When Aubameyang's second goal found the net, Stade Velodrome erupted. Not because the victory was unexpected — Marseille had been pushing — but because a 36-year-old forward had simply refused to let the game pass him by.