Marseille 3 - 0 Bastia: Marseille miss out on top three

Posted Sunday, May 24, 2015 by PA

Marseille ended their season with a 3-0 win over Bastia, but were unable to secure Champions League qualification.

Dimitri Payet's opener and Alexander Djiku's own goal made the game all but safe by half-time and Lucas Ocampos added a late third.

But with Monaco winning 1-0 at Lorient, the win served only to keep OM ahead of St Etienne for fourth place in Ligue 1.

The Stade Velodrome paid homage before kick-off to Andre Ayew, who has confirmed his departure at the end of the season, and Andre-Pierre Gignac and Rod Fanni who seem certain to follow.

Marseille needed just a quarter of an hour to stamp their authority on the game when Payet's low snap shot crept in at the near post after after he beat his man and cut in on his left foot.

But they were lucky not to be pegged back when Giovanni Sio found space inside the area, but could only find the side netting of Steve Mandanda's goal from a dangerous position.

Payet picked out Ayew inside the area with a free-kick, but the Ghana international could only head wide of Jean-Louis Leca's goal.

Marseille added a second seven minutes before half-time when Jeremy Morel's seemingly harmless effort from outside the area was steered beyond his own goalkeeper by Djiku.

Things turned a little sour after the interval when referee Ruddy Buquet had to temporarily call a halt to proceedings after Bastia keeper Leca was hit by a missile thrown from the crowd.

Following a short break, play restarted and Marseille continued to control proceedings with Ayew and Romain Alessandrini both going close.

Marcelo Bielsa opted to change things around at 68 minutes and boyhood Marseille fan Gignac was again given an outstanding ovation as he was replaced by Michy Batshuayi.

The second half was proving to be an uninspired affair with news having drifted through of Monaco's win, therefore ruining any slim Marseille hopes of Champions League qualification.

However, the hosts did provide their fans with one final cheer of the season when Ocampos opted to go it alone, bustling his way through the Bastia defence before slotting the ball beyond Leca to wrap up OM's season.