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Marseille have come from behind to run out 4-1 winners over 10-man Sporting Lisbon to blow Champions League Group D wide open this evening.
An eventful contest saw kickoff delayed, four goals and a red card even before half time, but ultimately it was hosts Marseille who were celebrating at the end – albeit behind closed doors due to crowd trouble in the match against Eintracht Frankfurt last month.
Alexis Sanchez was among the goalscorers for Marseille as they overcame a nightmare start to take complete control of the contest within half an hour, picking up their first points of the group against a Sporting side that had won their opening two games.
The result opens the door for Tottenham Hotspur to capitalise when they face Frankfurt in Germany later on Tuesday night.
Kickoff was delayed due to Sporting being caught in traffic ahead of the game, but while the visitors were slow to get to the ground, they were not slow to get started as they opened the scoring after just 51 seconds – the second-fastest Champions League goal ever conceded by a French club.
That was as good as it got for Sporting, though, and their downfall was largely due to a calamitous performance from goalkeeper Antonio Adan.
The Sporting shot-stopper was at fault for both goals as Marseille turned the game on its head in the space of three minutes, with Sanchez levelling things up before Amine Harit put the hosts in front.
Adan’s night went from bad to worse when he was sent off for handling the ball outside of his penalty area midway through the first half, and Leonardo Balerdi added a third five minutes later.
Chancel Mbemba then capped off the scoring in a second half which lacked quite as many flash points, with Sanchez the provider for the 84th-minute strike to seal a 4-1 win.
