Olympiakos stuns Marseille with Hezze header, takes 0-1 win at the Velodrome

A header in the closing stretch of the first half was all Olympiakos needed to leave the CEPAC Velodrome with the win. The final score was 0-1, and even though Marseille pushed for all 90 minutes, they never found a way to level things up.

The match was part of the Europa League, and it started out even: fouls on both ends, the odd corner kick, and few clear chances. Marseille moved the ball more, but Olympiakos sat well organized and looked for its own openings down the flanks, with Gelson Martins the most persistent threat in the early minutes.

The first big chance fell to the home side: in the 23rd minute, Keyliane Abdallah shot from the middle of the box off a pass from Igor Paixão, but the ball was blocked. Thirteen minutes later, Abdallah tried again, this time clipping the crossbar, on a play put together by Angel Gomes. Marseille kept pressing, but precision was lacking.

The goal that changed everything

Just when it looked like the first half would end scoreless, the decisive play arrived. In the 41st minute, off a corner kick, Chiquinho whipped in a cross and Santiago Hezze rose to head it home from the center of the box, leaving the home goalkeeper with no chance. The 0-1 scoreline would hold until the final whistle.

The second half saw Marseille ramp up its offensive push, bringing on Amine Harit, Amine Gouiri and Ulisses Garcia off the bench to try to jumpstart the attack. Igor Paixão had several looks, including a shot that sailed over the bar in the 60th minute and another, deep into stoppage time, that was blocked after a flick-on from Timothy Weah. Olympiakos, for its part, had chances of its own through Jota Silva, who fired off three separate shots without adding to the lead, and Armando González, who tested the keeper with a shot in the 86th minute.

What the numbers say

Marseille controlled possession and generated more volume of play, including nine corners to Olympiakos's one. Still, our expected goals estimate for this match, calculated from the shots taken, gives 1.144 for Marseille against 0.800 for Olympiakos: a slight home edge in chance creation that never showed up on the scoreboard.

Before the match, our projection had Marseille at 32% to win, 32% for a draw and 36% for Olympiakos, with expected goals of 1.13 for the home side and 1.21 for the visitors. The result ended up matching the slight lean toward Olympiakos, though the margin was razor thin and the match was settled by a single goal off a dead-ball situation.

What the result leaves behind

In the Europa League standings, Olympiakos moved to 6 points through two matches, still unbeaten, while Marseille remained without a point, having lost both of its opening fixtures. The gap between the two sides in the table now stands at 6 points. For Marseille, the frustration will be all the chances created but not converted; for Olympiakos, the satisfaction of making the most of the one clear-cut chance it had all match.