- Marseille defeated Nantes and closed the gap with leader PSG to seven points
- Neal Maupay opened the scoring before Mason Greenwood scored the winner
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Former Premier League players were in attendance in Nantes on Sunday evening as Neal Maupay and Mason Greenwood scored to guide Marseille to a 2-1 win over their rivals.
Maupay signed on a season-long loan from Everton this summer alongside former Manchester United striker Greenwood.
Marseille recovered from a 3-0 defeat to leaders Paris Saint-Germain last weekend to move to second place in the standings, six points behind the reigning champions.
Former Brighton and Everton striker Maupay opened the scoring before Nantes leveled.
Greenwood was criticized for an underperforming performance against PSG and made up for it with a brilliant second-half winner.
Greenwood received the ball from Luis Henrique, dummyed a defender and then fired a low shot past goalkeeper Alban Lafont.
Mason Greenwood scored as Marseille defeated Nantes to move up to second place in Ligue 1
It was Greenwood’s seventh goal in ten league matches since joining Marseille.
“It was a difficult week, we suffered after the defeat against Paris,” said coach Roberto De Zerbi, who left Brighton for Marseille after two seasons in charge. “And this response was very important.”
Greenwood joined United from Marseille in July on a £30m contract.
He has not played for the Premier League club since January 2022. He was arrested that month on suspicion of attempted rape, assault and coercive behavior.
All charges – which Greenwood denied – were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in February 2023 following the ‘withdrawal of key witnesses and new material coming to light’.
Neal Maupay also put himself on the scoresheet as the visitors took no fewer than three points
Despite the case against him being dropped, there was vocal opposition from some sections of the Marseille fanbase to his signing, with a group of fans launching a ‘#GreenwoodNotWelcome’ campaign when he was initially linked with the club.
Marseille mayor Benoit Payan also opposed the measure.