- Greenwood scores twice in less than a minute as Marseille beat Toulouse 3-1
- The former Man United player has had an incredible start to life in France
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Mason Greenwood’s French renaissance continues after the former Manchester United forward scored two goals in the space of a minute for his new club Marseille.
The 22-year-old has now scored five goals in three games since swapping Old Trafford for Stade Velodrome in July for a transfer fee reported to be £19.8million.
Greenwood opened the scoring between Marseille and Toulouse in the 16th minute, scoring the second goal in less than 60 seconds.
The former United academy product now shares the same goalscoring tally from the first three games of a Ligue 1 season as another Mancunian – albeit one who played for the blue half of Manchester.
Greenwood equals Mario Balotelli’s goalscoring record at the same point in the season after the former Manchester City man signed for Nice in 2016.
Mason Greenwood scored twice in less than a minute as Marseille beat Toulouse 3-1 on Saturday
The former Manchester United player has enjoyed an exceptional start to life in Ligue 1
Greenwood’s Ligue 1 goal tally equals that of former City man Mario Balotelli in 2016
Marseille manager Roberto De Zerbi praised Greenwood as the club top Ligue 1
He will also be hoping to equal the Italian for France’s goalscoring tally, having scored 33 times in 66 Ligue 1 games between 2016 and 2019.
Saturday’s match between Marseille and Toulouse ended 3-1 at the host stadium, the Stadium.
Brazilian forward Luis Henrique provided the assist for both of Greenwood’s goals, while Marseille scored the third through an own goal from Toulouse centre-back Charlie Cresswell.
The home side scored a consolation goal late in the second half, when Gabonese striker Shavy Babicka neatly shot past Marseille keeper Geronimo Rulli.
Marseille manager Roberto De Zerbi has a player in top form in Greenwood, who scored twice against Brest on his debut for the Ligue 1 club earlier this August, and again against Reims last week.
Greenwood is looking to repay the faith Les Olympiens placed in him after he left Manchester before his career really got going.
The striker began his professional career at Old Trafford, where his talent attracted much attention, but was suspended in January 2022 after allegations of attempted rape and sexual assault.
However, prosecutors dropped the charges in February 2023, allowing Greenwood to resume his career, which he did by spending last season on loan in Spain with Getafe, where he scored eight goals in 33 La Liga appearances.
“We played a good first half and scored two goals,” Marseille’s new head coach Roberto De Zerbi told reporters after the match.
Mason Greenwood left Man United for Marseille this summer for an initial transfer fee of £19.8 million
The 22-year-old striker has scored five goals in just three games for Les Olympiens
Greenwood last played for United in January 2022 before being charged with attempted rape, assault and coercive control. Greenwood denied the charges before the case was dropped
‘It gave us an advantage to have an extra player and we relied on our strength in the one-on-one games, especially Greenwood, to score twice.
“We still need to improve the speed and mentality of this team. We shouldn’t have conceded a goal, we should have won 3-0.”
Marseille are now seven points above the rest of Ligue 1, level on points with Nantes, who won 3-1 at Montpellier on Saturday.