Marseille slips to 3-0 home defeat vs. Lorient

PARIS (AP) -Marseille was again let down by its poor home form as it lost 3-0 to visiting Lorient on Sunday and missed the chance to pressure French leader Lyon ahead of its match away to bitter rival Saint-Etienne.

Marseille, which lost 4-1 at home to Lyon two weeks ago, dropped down to third place behind Paris Saint-Germain, which has the same number of points but a vastly better goal difference. PSG thrashed struggling Evian 4-0 at home on Saturday, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic taking his league-leading tally to 14 goals in just 13 games.

A win at Saint-Etienne would put Lyon five points clear at the top.

Lorient moved up to eighth place, thanks to a first-half penalty from striker Jeremie Aliadiere and goals from winger Benjamin Corgnet and forward Kevin Monnet-Paquet in the second half.

"The match turned in our favor with the penalty and sending off,'' Lorient coach Christian Gourcuff said. "It becomes easier when it's 10 against 11. We've experienced that the other way around in the past.

"We made the best use of the extra man and we were perfectly well organized,'' he added. "Aliadiere was exceptional, and he caused Marseille's defense a lot of problems.''

Marseille has lost five of its past seven games in all competitions and is leaking goals, with 17 conceded in the past nine games.

Aliadiere put the visitors ahead in the 38th minute, taking the spot-kick himself after being fouled by Charles Kabore and sending goalkeeper Steve Mandanda the wrong way. Kabore, who had already been booked, was sent off.

Lorient went 2-0 up in the 47th when Alain Traore crossed from the left and winger Benjamin Corgnet beat left back Jeremy Morel to the ball, before expertly lobbing Mandanda with the outside of his foot for his third goal in four games.

Center half Souleymane Diawara almost pulled a goal back for Marseille but Lorient goalkeeper Fabien Audard made a fine save on his line to keep out his bullet header. Marseille midfielder Joey Barton felled Traore with a heavy challenge midway through the second half and Traore had to be replaced in midfield by Gilles Sunu.

Aliadiere set up the third goal in the 69th when he got on the end of a long ball and pulled it back to the unmarked Monnet-Paquet, who beat Mandanda with a powerful strike.

Earlier, Bordeaux missed a chance to break into the top five when it drew 0-0 at struggling Reims, which is 15th.

In a scrappy game, Reims had the best chances in the second half.

Forward Floyd Ayite burst down the right, held off the challenge of defender Florian Marange and crossed to the back post for Brazilian midfielder Diego, who went close with a spectacular overhead kick.