Paris, Monday

Florian Thauvin marked his first start in 15 months with a goal and two assists as Marseille beat Brest 3-2 on Sunday in their opening game of the Ligue 1 season.

World Cup winner Thauvin missed all but 20 minutes of the coronavirus-shortened 2019-20 season with an ankle injury as Marseille came a distant second to Paris Saint-Germain, the club’s best finish in seven years.

Coach Andre Villas-Boas hopes the return to full fitness of Thauvin can help the team close the gap on bitter rivals PSG, who start their campaign on September 10 and host Marseille three days later.

“I’m really happy to have scored. It was a very long time out, the first long injury of my career,” Thauvin told Telefoot. 

“I admit I went through a difficult period but I worked a lot and I’m proud because I didn’t give up.” “I think I’m at 70 or 80 percent,” he added.

“But if you had told me after so long without playing I was going to be at this level, I would have signed right away.” 

Marseille’s scheduled opener last weekend was postponed after they suffered five cases of Covid-19.

Dimitri Payet, Bouna Sarr and Alvaro Gonzalez were notable absentees for the trip to Brest as the club reported three further infections this week. 

However, goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and left-back Jordan Amavi were cleared to play after stints in quarantine, while Argentine defender Leonardo Balerdi made his Marseille debut after signing on loan from Borussia Dortmund.

Thauvin needed just 20 minutes to fire Marseille in front, gathering possession on the right and slashing inside in trademark style before sweeping home on his left foot via a telling deflection that lifted the ball over Gautier Larsonneur’s despairing dive. 

His free-kick picked out Duje Caleta-Car to volley in a second on 27 minutes, the goal belatedly awarded after a lengthy VAR review overturned an initial offside decision.

Romain Faivre smashed in his first Brest goal just before half-time as Marseille’s vulnerability in their first competitive match since March 6 continued to give the home side reason to believe.  -AFP