Bordeaux 0-0 Olympique Marseille

Someone pointed out after this game that the difference between a 1-1 draw in France compared with England is that such a game in France is much more entertaining. I wouldn't say I agree with this as it is based on the teams and we should remember that a 1-1 scoreline is probably less likely in England.

Nevertheless this was indeed an entertaining game although I thought it was going to peter out towards the end of the 90. Both teams came out brightly and the first chance fell to OM as a player was put through and then went down claiming a penalty. The referee was having none of it and only a few minutes later up the other end, Mandanda in the OM goal dropped a headed attempt on goal but there was no Bordeaux player following up. OM then went forward with a swift counter attack that was enough to give the Marseille team an early lead. It was a wonderfully created goal with Brandao doing much of the work down the right as Lucho ran the length of the pitch to put the deflected cross into the Bordeaux goal from only a few yards out.

It was in fact OM who continued to dominate after this point and pushed for a second. Only after the half hour mark did Bordeaux look to get back in the game when a free kick potentially struck Cisse on the arm. The referee once again shook his head but only five minutes later sent off the same player as the holding midfielder made a challenge from behind. The commentator of the game argued that this was justified but for me and many others the tackle warranted, at most, a yellow card.

At half-time OM looked good value for their lead and were unlucky not to be up by more. Bordeaux meanwhile had only sporadic chances and were clearly struggling to enforce the man advantage.

In the second half the game continued to be entertaining as Mandanda and Carrasso in particular had to make fantastic saves; each vying to be the French second goalkeeper behind Hugo Lloris of Lyon. However after about 65 minutes the game began to peter out and OM defended in numbers whilst Bordeaux failed to break them down and were forced to shoot from long range. Marseille fans must have though there team was home and dry but in the 88th minute Modeste beat his marker for a cross and powered the ball past Mandanda for the equaliser. Some of these same fans will feel hard done by but if they had been offered a draw at Bordeaux playing most of the game with 10 men; I feel most would have taken this result.