Lyon 2-3 Marseille: Jonathan Rowe stunner completes unbelievable 10-man comeback

Olympique de Marseille joined Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the Ligue 1 table following a stunning victory over Lyon in a goal-laden Choc des Olympiques at the Groupama Stadium. The first Olympico of the season got underway with a feisty tackle from Leonardo Balerdi, but the Argentine would follow it up only two minutes later with another challenge on Alex Lacazette that earned him a second yellow (5'). De Zerbi's side would now have to play the remaining 85 minutes plus injury time with only ten men…

OL were immediately on the front foot with the numerical advantage, and Gift Orban managed to rattle the crossbar with a spectacular overhead attempt following a corner for Les Gones. Orban would get another chance to open the scoring only minutes later, but Geronimo Rulli denied the Nigerian attacker well in the one-on-one situation. Corentin Tolisso would be next up with a chance, as he managed to dribble past Rulli but the ball would be cleared off the line.

'Geronimo!' Rulli saves OM in first half

OM's first foray into the Lyon box almost saw Valentin Rongier open the scoring for Les Olympiens, but he was denied by Lucas Perri's outstanding save. It came as Marseille started to enjoy a good period of possession after weathering a storm of Lyonnais attacks. But the pattern of the first half would resume as OL piled on the pressure: Lacazette tried to put the ball on a plate for Orban, but Kondogbia intervened well. Despite the ten-men, Marseille would get extremely close to opening the score once more, this time it was Elye Wahi whose shot was surely going in if it wasn't for Corentin Tolisso's decisive clearance off the line to deny the Frenchman.

A penalty would be awarded to Lyon, after Rongier was adjudged to handle the ball in the box. Alexandre Lacazette stepped up to take the spot-kick, but Géronimo Rulli guessed the right way to save in dramatic fashion. With three big saves and a penalty stop, Rulli kept the 10-man away side in the contest by the first half break with a superb performance.

Lyon would find a way past the resistance of Marseille's resolute defence, as Clinton Mata showed some great determination to steal the ball back from Valentin Rongier and then provide a pinpoint cross for former OM defender Dujé Caleta-Carr to head decisively into the back of the net (53'). Maitland-Niles provided a well-timed through ball to Alex Lacazette, but the Frenchman was denied well by Murillo.

Lyon looked comfortable with their one-goal and one-man advantage, but a mistake at the back would be costly for Pierre Sage's men as Luis Enrique fed a well-timed ball through to Pol Lirola, which caught the OL backline completely by surprise. The Spaniard beared down on goal and finished deftly to get what was an unlikely leveller for De Zerbi's side (69'). 

De Zerbi's substitutions prove decisive in late drama

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more unpredictable, Marseille would come up with another stunning moment, as OM bombed forward through Lirola on the counter-attack. The Spaniard provided a perfect cross for Ulisses Garcia, who was in acres of space at the back post and lofted a looped finish past Perri into the back of the net (82').

It would be the first of three late twists to the tale, as Rayan Cherki would flick home Clinton Mata's low cross for an injury-time leveller for the home side (90+3). Cue the huge celebrations from the home side's roaring fans - but it wouldn't end there just yet. OM would get themselves on the attack once more, and Jonathan Rowe picked up the ball down the left side and confidently drove at the Lyon defence. The England U21 international then let off a rocket past Perri into the back of the net, effectively sealing the three points for Marseille in the most stunning of circumstances (90'+5). 

WATCH: stunning ROWE strike decides the Olympico

REACTIONS

Marseille Head Coach, Roberto De Zerbi - "I'm not surprised. I'm very happy to have seen this mentality and this courage. The substitutes who came on to win with ten against eleven. To see the looks on the players' faces so happy at the end, I'm very proud."

Lyon's Rayan Cherki - "It's a disgrace. They've been down to ten men since the fifth minute. We've been going backwards for years. If we want to be a great team, we have to know how to bury our opponents when we're leading. They go away with three points, they look good and we go away with zero points. We're going to have to keep working."

THE STAT: An unprecedented 1st 

Marseille became the first team to win a Ligue 1 match after picking up a red card in the first 5 minutes of play since Opta began collecting this data (1992/93).

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