MARSEILLE: Lionel Messi was kept quiet in his first “Classique” as Ligue 1 leaders Paris St Germain settled for a 0-0 draw with bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille after playing more than half an hour with 10 men amid minor crowd trouble on Sunday.

The game was briefly paused twice because of incidents involving Marseille fans after both teams had goals disallowed in an entertaining first half — Marseille defender Luan Peres’ own-goal in the 14th after Neymar’s shot and Arkadiusz Milik’s low shot in the 21st.

Messi almost struck shortly before halftime when his left-footed shot from outside the area went wide and he had a close-range header saved in the 25th minute.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side played with 10 men after Achraf Hakimi was sent off in the 56th minute at the Velodrome Stadium in traditionally the biggest match in French football. Hakimi brought down Cengiz Under on a counterattack.

“I think we played very well, but we just couldn’t get the goal,” Pochettino told broadcaster Amazon Prime. “The team showed great character, and of course identity and style.”

PSG have 28 points from 11 games and lead RC Lens by seven points and Nice by nine.

Winger Wesley Said grabbed a first-half brace as Lens thrashed lowly Metz 4-1 while Nice claimed a thrilling 3-2 comeback win against 10-men Olympique Lyonnais.

Marseille, who will replay their game against Nice on Wednesday after it was abandoned after serious crowd incidents in August, are fourth on 18 points from 10 matches.

Karl Toko-Ekambi and Houssem Aouar scored for Lyon, but Youcef Atal got one back for Nice with nine minutes left before Lyon had Tino Kadewere sent off.

Andy Delort equalised with a penalty in the 89th minute and 20-year-old forward Evann Guessand won it in stoppage time for the home team.

Also on Sunday, Monaco beat Montpellier 3-1 and Rennes enjoyed a 1-0 home victory over Strasbourg. Lorient and Girondins Bordeaux drew 1-1, and Troyes won 2-1 at Reims.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2021