Several derbies have been played in the French League in the last few days.
Marseille emerged as the winner of the week. The league leader recorded two wins in two derbies within less than 24 hours. Marseille beat Noisy-le-Sec (11:7) on Saturday. Today, Marseille demolished reigning champion Strasbourg (17:8).
Marseille secured 1st place before the playoffs, while the battle for 2nd place became very interesting. Three teams have chances to finish the regular season right behind Marseille.
2020/21 French League
Day 15 (rescheduled match)
Tourcoing- Noisy-le-Sec 15:15 (2:1, 4:6, 4:4, 5:4)
Tourcoing : Randjic 5, Vincourt 2, Rocchietta 2, Canonne 2, Avena 1, Banicevic 1, Kujacic 2
Noisy : Petkovic 4, Person 3, Marzouki 2, Rasovic 2, Caumette 2, Do Carmo 2.
Day 19
Pays d’Aix – Strasbourg 12:9 (2:0, 3:3, 4:3, 3:3)
Pays d’Aix: Monneret 3, Veron 2, Dino 2, Popadic 1, Khasz 1, Gagulic 1, D’Souza 1, Gluhaic 1.
Strasbourg : Misic 3, Culina 2, Babic 2, Markovic 1, Buha 1.
Marseille – Noisy-le-Sec 11:7 (1:1, 4:0, 1:2, 5:4)
Marseille: Spaic 2, Crousillat 2, Marion-Vernoux 2, Cuckovic 1, Prlainovic 1, Vernoux 1, Vukicevic 1, Djurdjic 1.
Noisy-le-Sec: Peisson 2, Marzouki 2, Rasovic 2, Krapic 1.
Reims – Montpellier 7:12 (2:4, 2:2, 1:4, 2:2)
Reims : VIx 3, Signoret 1, Musset 1, Calic 1, Le Goff 1
Montpellier: Mustur 3, Kalinic 3, Ivankovic 2, D.Zivkovic 2, I. Zivkovic 1, Delas 1.
Tourcoing – Nice 17:13 (4:3, 4:4, 4:3, 5:3)
Tourcoing : Grgurevic 4, Canonne 4, Kujacic 3, Rocchietta 2, Coupleux 1, Krisman 1, Randjic 1, Avena 1.
Nice: De Nardi 5, Gardikas 3, Butic 2, Colak 2, Mutambayi 1.
Played earlier
Sete – Douai 12:6
Day 18 (rescheduled match)
Marseille – Strasbourg 17:8 (3:1, 7:4, 3:0, 4:3)
Marseille: Vukicevic 4, Marion-Vernoux 3, Olivon 2, Vernoux 2, Crousillat 2, Camarasa 2, Izdinsky 1, Prlainovic 1.
Strasbourg:Babic 2, Markovic 2, Chion 1, Denux 1, Misic 1, Valentino 1.
The series of important games started on Wednesday, with an encounter between Tourcoing and Noisy-le-Sec (round 15). The big rivels shared the points in the high-scoring battle – 15:15. Tourcoing opened the match with a 2:0 lead. Still, Noisy equalized in the second quarter and controlled the game for most of the time. However, the visitors’ advantage wasn’t larger than a goal in the second and the third period. In the fourth quarter, the Parisians earned a 2-goal lead for the first time(12:10 and 15:13), but the hosts secured the point with two goals in the last 2 and a half minutes – 15:15. Miroslav Randjic led the hosts with five goals, Antonio Petkovic netted four for Noisy.
On Saturday, Marseille and Pays d’Aix recorded valuable victories in the 19th round.
Marseille hosted Noisy-le-Sec. The first quarter was balanced (1:1). Marseille dominated the second quarter. The hosts scored four unanswered goals and had a 5:1 lead at halftime. That 4:0 rush proved crucial for the outcome. Marseille collected the points with an 11:7 victory.
Pays d’Aix beat reigning champion Strasbourg and entered the battle for the 2nd place in the table. Pays d’Aix started excellently and jumped to a 5:1 lead. Still, Strasbourg started climbing back and managed to cut the deficit (4:5, 5:6, 6:7). Aix scored two back-to-back goals in the final three minutes of the third period for 9:6. The hosts kept the distance until the end (12:9).
Noisy remains in 2nd place with 34 points, while Strasbourg and Pays d’Aix are tied in the 2nd and 3rd positions with 33 points each. But Noisy played one match more than its rivals in the battle for second place.
Tourcoing played another game that produced 30 goals. They hosted Nice and recorded a 17:13 win. Both teams had ups and downs in this duel. In the middle of the third period, Tourcoing earned an 11:7 lead, and it seemed that they had broken their rival. But, Nice was able to come back. The visitors reduced the gap early in the fourth period (11:12). In the 27th minute, they caught up with the hosts (13:13). Nice couldn’t score a goal in the last five minutes, while Tourcoing found the net four times and celebrated a 17:13 victory.
Tourcoing, which holds 5th place, and 6th-placed Montpellier are in a neck-and-neck race. Each of the two teams has won 27 points so far. Montpellier visited Reims this weekend and returned home with three points in the pocket. They won 12:7.
The busy week was completed today, with an encounter between Marseille and Strasbourg. The game was a derby, but Marseille killed all the suspense quickly. There were no goals until the 4th minute. Strasbourg’s Aubin Denux broke the deadlock for 0:1. Marseille responded with seven goals in a row and went up 7:1 in the middle of the second quarter. Strasbourg couldn’t recover from that shock. Obviously, Strasbourg, which was out of the pool for a while due to the corona cases at the team, still isn’t able to play two hard matches on a high level within less than 24 hours.
1 Marseille 17 – 51
2 Noisy-le-Sec 17 – 34
3 Pays d’Aix 16– 33*
4 Strasbourg 16 – 33*
5 Tourcoing 17 – 27*
6 Montpellier 17 – 27*
7 Douai 15 – 22
8 Sete 17 – 14
9 Reims 17 – 13
10 Nice 16 – 8
11 Bordeaux 17 – 0
Head to head: Pays d’Aix 6 points, Strasbourg 0; Tourcoing 3 (+1), Montpellier 3 (-1)
