Paris (AFP) – Marseille slumped to a third successive Ligue 1 defeat as Monaco came from behind to win 3-1 on Saturday and plunge Andre Villas-Boas’ struggling side deeper into crisis.
Nemanja Radonjic skipped clear of the home defence to give Marseille the lead on 12 minutes, but Monaco equalised at the start of the second half through Guillermo Maripan’s header.
Aurelien Tchouameni’s first goal in the French top-flight put Monaco ahead before Stevan Jovetic’s thumping free-kick in stoppage time sealed a fifth victory in six games for Niko Kovac’s resurgent team.
Arkadiusz Milik made his Marseille debut off the bench after signing on an 18-month loan from Napoli, but the Polish striker was unable to arrest his new club’s slide as they lost a third league game in a row for the first time since April 2015.
They remain sixth and 13 points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain, while Monaco are closing in on the top three with just a point separating them and Lyon.
The latest setback is sure to create more uncertainty about the future of Villas-Boas, who had made it clear during the week he was not about to give up the fight with a tough run of fixtures on the horizon.
Marseille return home to face Rennes next weekend, with a second meeting against Lens in a fortnight preceding the visit of bitter rivals PSG to the Velodrome on February 7.
