Marseille remain hot on PSG heels with Bordeaux romp

Marseille remained hot on the heels of French League champions leaders Paris Saint-Germain with a 3-1 romp of Bordeaux on Sunday.

Marseille are just five-point shy of leaders PSG after racking up a sixth straight victory.

The trio of Jordan Amavi, Morgan Sanson and Nemanja Radonjic were on target in front of a capacity crowd as Andre Villas-Boas’ team rose to the second in the standings.

“At the break the coach told us to do more, to get the Velodrome right behind us,” said Sanson, whose 60th-minute strike put Marseille ahead after they had fallen behind to Yacine Adli’s superb first-half opener.

“In the second half we were clearly the better team... thanks to the fans we woke up.” While a real challenge to PSG’s domestic supremacy will be difficult, a return to the Champions League is looking increasingly likely after another exciting performance led by Dimitri Payet.

With three teams qualifying for Europe’s premier competition Marseille are seven points ahead of fourth-placed Rennes and were in fine form on Sunday, failing to be fazed by Adli’s stunning 31st-minute strike for Bordeaux.

The away side frustrated dominant Marseille throughout the first period with compact defending and Adli stunned the home fans when he thumped Josh Maja’s layoff past Steve Mandanda from long range.

However the hosts were not to be deterred and Payet had a hand in the leveller, his corner two minutes after the break finding the head of Amavi, who made no mistake from close range.

Bordeaux then handed Marseille the lead on the hour mark when trying to play out from a goal kick under intense pressure from the home attack.

Pablo floated a soft pass straight to the feet of Sanson, who shifted his feet on the edge of the area before smashing home at Benoit Costil’s near post.

Radonjic put the cherry on the cake in stoppage time after another Pablo error, the Brazil international this time being easily dispossessed by Valentin Rongier near the halfway line.

The Frenchman charged at the Bordeaux defence before feeding Serb Radonjic, whose shot was saved by Costil before ricocheting in off Aurelien Tchouameni.

Earlier, Saint-Etienne missed the chance to move into the European places after being beaten 3-1 at Reims.

Agencies