Gouiri carries Marseille's first points through a Leverkusen side nobody had scored against
One counter-attack did what three Europa League opponents had failed to do to Leverkusen. After three straight defeats it puts Marseille back in the race for the top 24.
Nobody had scored against Leverkusen in this Europa League until the 77th minute. Amine Gouiri took the ball on the halfway line, ran it to the left edge of the area, went past Edmond Tapsoba, cut inside and curled it into the far corner, and Marseille had a 1-0 win at the BayArena from their first real counter-attack of the night.
Bayer Leverkusen
- 1Afonso Moreira
- 2Loïc Badé
- 3Ezequiel Fernández
- 4Montrell Culbreath
- 5Janis Blaswich
- 6Ben Hawighorst
- 7Malik Tillman
- 8Niklas Lomb
Marseille
- 1Ibrahim Gomis
- 2Tochukwu Nnadi
- 3Tadjidine Mmadi
- 4Bamo Meïté
- 5Antoine Dominique Henri Valero
- 6Théo Vermot
- 7Keyliane Abdallah
- 8Nouhoum Kamissoko
- 9Alexi Koum
- 10Angel Gomes
- 11Neal Maupay
Leverkusen had taken nine points from their first three matches, with eight goals and none against. Here they went almost half an hour without a shot, and when it came, from Aleix García's corner, Jarell Quansah sent it high from inside the area. Miguel Gutiérrez's shot against the bar in the 42nd minute was the nearest they came before the break.
Gouiri had been through once already. Timothy Weah's pass sent him clear in the seventh minute and Mark Flekken stopped him with a foot. Seventy minutes later he did not let it come to one against one.
Tapsoba had the equaliser on his head moments after the goal and put it wide. It was Leverkusen's first defeat in Europe this season and Carles Martínez's third in four matches, after Stuttgart won 4-2 on the same ground on Saturday.
Marseille had lost four of their six away matches this season and came without Amine Harit, who scored in the last of their four straight league wins. They go home with three points and an away win that owed him nothing.
