Marseille, Lyon bid to continue Champions League form

Marseille and Lyon return to Ligue 1 action this weekend after successful Champions League outings that saw the two French giants notch up victories.

Reigning French champions Marseille snuck past Slovakian side MSK Zilina 1-0 to record their first win and pick up their first points in European football’s showcase competition this season.

Souleymane Diawara’s 48th-minute header was enough to keep alive Marseille’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage for the first time since they won the competition with present coach Didier Deschamps as captain in 1993.

They now turn their attention to Lille, 1-0 winners over Bulgarian team Levski Sofia in the Europa League on Thursday.

Lyon now top their Champions League group by three points after a satisfying 2-0 win over Benfica, goals coming from a Jimmy Briand header and Lisandro Lopez.

The 2002-2008 French champions are now closing on a place in the Champions League knockout phase for the eighth season in a row as their revival continues apace.

They will look to their away match against Arles-Avignon on Sunday as a chance to claim three more points to move above a clutch of mid-table clubs.

Lyon coach Claude Puel had come under serious pressure after his side won just one of their first seven league matches, but they are now on a run of four straight victories in all competitions.

Puel was under no illusions, however, that it could be hard to rebound from the heights of the Champions League.

“We’re getting more powerful and implementing a good gameplan,” he said. “We’re better and better, physically speaking, and must continue along these lines.

“But the toughest match comes on Sunday against Arles-Avignon. It’s not the Champions League and we’ll really have to turn up.”

Marseille coach Deschamps was left ruing his side’s timidity in front of goal after Tuesday’s win over Zilina.

“The most important thing was the result. However, in the first-half we were only on target with four or five shots from 13 or 14 efforts on goal.

“It was a little better than Nancy (whom they beat 1-0 in La Ligue last weekend), but we can do better in several sectors of the game, that’s clear.

“This win continues to give us hope,” Deschamps said, adding he would have been more worried if his team had not maufactured any goal-scoring opportunities.

Also on Sunday, Auxerre travel to Paris Saint-Germain, who drew 1-1 with Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League on Thursday.

Fixtures

Sunday

Arles-Avignon v Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain v Auxerre, Lille v Marseille