Baup upbeat despite defeat

Marseille manager Elie Baup refused to criticise his side after they fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.

Goals from Maxwell and Zlatan Ibrahimovic eclipsed Andre Ayew’s 34th-minute opener to leave Marseille four points behind their visitors and Monaco at the summit of Ligue 1,

Even though they had a man advantage for over an hour, with Thiago Motta having been given his marching orders, Baup’s charges were unable to contain the reigning champions, but the 58-year-old praised his side’s effort.

“I’m not disappointed,” he said. “We fought to the end but it is very hard to win.

“The results added to those against Arsenal (2-1 defeat) and Dortmund (3-1 defeat) show that against the teams that have the resources and staff, we have a to give a big effort to beat them.

“We are a very young team with young players trying to move forward.”

Ayew struck from the penalty spot after Motta was dismissed for a foul on Mathieu Valbuena, but they were unable to hold onto the lead as Maxwell levelled before the break.

Ibrahimovic won the game just after the hour when he converted a penalty – although Baup felt that decision was harsh on his side.

“What I regret is that the goal (from Maxwell) came just before half-time,” he added.

“The second goal (Ibrahimovic’s penalty) we felt that the referee was waiting to whistle for any situation, we should have been less naive.

“The facts are the difference (in this) game, after that we saw the power and passing qualities of the Paris team.”