Julien Pretot
PARIS — Reuters Published on Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009 6:54PM EST Last updated on Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009 7:54PM EST
Stephane M'Bia equalized deep into injury time Sunday to give Marseille a 5-5 draw at Lyon in the French league despite having led 4-2 with 10 minutes remaining.
Lyon was up 2-1 by the 15th minute after goals from Miralem Pjanic and Sidney Govou either side of Souleymane Diawara's strike for Marseille in the 11th.
Benoit Cheyrou, Bakari Kone and Brandao then scored for Marseille to seemingly make the match safe.
However, two goals from Lisandro Lopez, including a penalty, and one from Michel Bastos put Lyon 5-4 ahead — until Mamadou Niang passed for M'Bia to scramble the ball over the line amid frenetic scenes at Stade Gerland with only seconds left.
“It was a spectacular match. I think a lot of fans appreciated it. But as a coach, I didn't,” Marseille coach Didier Deschamps said. “We gave a lot of gifts away. We were very passive, especially on the first two goals. If we have to score six goals to win away from home then things will become very complicated.”
The draw means Bordeaux stays top with 25 points, one ahead of Lyon, despite losing 2-0 at Lille earlier Sunday. Auxerre is third with 23 points, while Marseille is eighth with 18 but has played a game less.
“It's a shame (to draw) after all the effort we put in, which we didn't get rewarded for,” Lyon coach Claude Puel said. “We are a little bit frustrated, even though at 4-2 down we would have settled for 4-4.”
With France goalkeeper coach Bruno Martini watching ahead of France's World Cup playoff against Ireland on Saturday, there was little to reassure him as the country's No. 1 goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and No. 2 Steve Mandanda both had a nightmare.
Lyon took the lead in the third minute when Marseille failed to clear a long ball over the top, Pjanic chested it down and struck a brilliant shot into the roof of the net from just inside the area.
The visitors equalized from Diawara's powerful header that just crept over the line after Lloris had showed incredible reflexes to almost claw the ball away.
Diawara was culpable for Lyon's second goal, failing to cover the centre of defence as Govou ran at the heart of the defence and hit a powerful shot into the top corner.
Lloris then made a horrendous error to let Marseille back in the match at 2-2, palming a shot from Cheyrou into his own net just before halftime. But he was powerless to stop Kone's first-time shot into the top corner in the 47th from Fabrice Abriel's cross.
Marseille could have made it 4-2 soon after when Niang fed Brandao, but Lloris reacted well to keep out the low shot.
Brandao made amends when he flicked in Abriel's corner with a spectacular backheel in the 79th. But within five minutes Lyon had made it 4-4 with Lopez scoring twice.
Lopez showed an immaculate touch and great poise to shrug off his marker and clip the ball over Mandanda in the 81st. He then slammed a penalty past the goalkeeper in the 84th after defender Gabriel Heinze had handled inside the penalty area.
Lopez was in unstoppable form, breaking from midfield in the 90th and taking three Marseille players with him before linking with Pjanic, whose delayed pass allowed Bastos to hit a low shot inside Mandanda's near post to make it 5-4.
Lyon looked to have done enough to win, but Lloris missed a high ball and M'Bia got Marseille a point to stay in title contention.
Earlier, Yohan Cabaye and Florent Balmont scored in the second half as Lille beat lacklustre Bordeaux.
Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc was angry with his team's performance.
“Why did my team not turn up? I don't have the answer. Lille is clearly our bogey team. We haven't managed to beat them for 21/2 years (in the league),” Blanc said. “We knew what to expect, apparently, but maybe I didn't speak in the right language.”
Looking tired from their European games in midweek, Lille and Bordeaux cancelled each other out in a gritty first half that produced little creativity.
Lille opened the scoring in the 68th minute when Ivory Coast winger Gervinho broke down the left and found Pierre-Alain Frau, whose shot was parried by goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso into the path of Cabaye.
Balmont sealed the win with an 87th-minute penalty after Mickael Ciani fouled Larsen Toure.
Also Sunday, Andre-Pierre Gignac, Moussa Sissoko and Daniel Braaten scored for Toulouse in a 3-2 win over Rennes, which replied with goals from Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan and Kader Mangane.
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