Three defeats from their first three Europa League outings had left Marseille in a difficult position in the league stage standings, but Amine Gouiri’s late goal at the BayArena on Thursday night changed the picture. The forward, introduced as a starter by Bruno Génésio, fired past Flekken in the 77th minute to hand the French side a 1-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen, according to getfootballnewsfrance.com their first European success of the season. Leverkusen, who went into the match with nine points and sitting seventh, were held without a goal for the first time in this competition and drop three points they can ill afford to waste.
Key Moments
- 6′, Miguel Gutiérrez picked up an early yellow card for a foul, putting Leverkusen under caution on the left side of their defense for the rest of the first half.
- 38′, Igor Paixão was booked for an argument, a card that would eventually hasten his substitution at the hour mark.
- 68′, Leverkusen made a double change, withdrawing Lucas Vázquez and Robert Andrich for Afonso Moreira and Fernández as Carles Martínez looked to inject more threat with the game locked at 0-0.
- 77′, The decisive moment: U. Garcia drove forward and fed Gouiri inside the box. The forward kept his composure and finished past Flekken to put Marseille ahead.
- 84′, Gouiri was withdrawn for Maupay seconds after scoring, with Génésio also bringing on Alexi Koum for U. Garcia to protect the lead and absorb Leverkusen’s late pressure.
Tactical Breakdown
Leverkusen dominated the ball, finishing with 58 percent possession and 700 passes compared to Marseille’s 517, but they converted very little of that control into genuine danger. Their expected goals figure of 0.99 came almost entirely from shots inside the box (nine attempts), yet J. de Lange was asked for only three saves across the full 90 minutes. The home side’s build-up was patient but predictable, and Marseille’s 4-1-4-1 shape, anchored by Højbjerg in the pivot, compressed the central channels effectively.
The turning point arrived not with a substitution but with a moment of individual quality. When Igor Paixão went off at 71 minutes (bookings had restricted his usual directness), Génésio’s decision to keep Gouiri on the pitch paid off six minutes later. U. Garcia, operating as a left back but pushing into the half-space, picked out the forward with a precise pass, and Gouiri did the rest. Leverkusen’s double change at 68 minutes, bringing on Afonso Moreira and Fernández for more attacking impetus, left gaps that Marseille threatened to exploit on the counter after the goal.
For Leverkusen, the problem was not volume but quality in the final third. Schick went the full 90 minutes without registering a goal or an assist, and Hofmann, one of their most creative outlets, finished below a 6.0 rating. The home side’s ten total shots produced only three on target, and Flekken at the other end made just one save. With the match finely balanced, they were punished by a single moment of Marseille’s cutting edge.
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Verdict
The win moves Marseille to six points in the UEFA Europa League standings, lifting them off the bottom-half cluster that currently sits outside the automatic knockout places. Leverkusen, still on nine points and seventh, remain comfortably in the top 24 that advance, but losing a home game they expected to control will sting. For Génésio’s side, it is a result that reopens their European campaign before the second half of the league stage.