Andre-Pierre Gignac scored a dramatic 93rd minute winner as Marseille extended their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to five points after defeating Caen 2-1 on Saturday.
The match appeared to be heading for a draw before Gignac drove home a loose ball from inside the box in the dying moments to take his league leading scoring tally to nine goals from nine matches.
It was also the seventh straight victory for Marcelo Bielsa’s side and puts them into a healthy position ahead of Sunday’s showdown at the Parc des Princes between champions Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco.
The hard earned victory under wet Normandy conditions lifted Marseille five points ahead of Bordeaux with Lille seven back and PSG eight adrift with both teams playing Sunday.
“The equaliser we conceded at the end of the match was cause for doubt but the team always believed right til the final minute and we were able to make the difference,” said Bielsa.
“The victory was difficult but we created a lot of chances and we got there in the end,” added the Argentine.
In other matches on Saturday, Evian climbed out of the relegation zone with three second half goals to defeat promoted Metz 3-0.
Nice scored in the 94th minute to hold 2012 champions Montpellier 1-1 in the south coast derby while Claude Makelele’s Bastia sunk into the bottom three after crashing 2-0 at home to Lorient.
Finally, Rennes moved into the upper half of the table with a 2-0 home win that left Lens third from bottom.
Caen came into their match against Marseille with the worst home record in the French top flight having already lost three times at their Stade Michel D’Ornano but they were unfortunate to suffer defeat.
“It was a difficult match and congratulations to them (Caen) because we were a bit lucky,” said Gignac, who was recalled to the France team this week for upcoming friendlies against Portugal and Armenia.
“We showed that we’re a big club and on the goal, I was just trying to control it and hit the target. It’s a big three points for us,” added the 28-year-old.
Togo international Alaixys Romao sent a glancing header that deflected in off the unfortunate Caen keeper Remy Vercoutre with 15 minutes left to give Marseille the initiative but the lead only held up briefly.
Caen thought they had an equaliser one minute later when a free kick from the right flank was headed past Steve Mandanda by Damien Da Silva but the linesman ruled out the effort with a disputable offside decision.
But with six minutes left from a similar set-piece, Caen deservedly equalised when Gabon defender Yronda Musavu-King towered above the Marseille back four and planted a header past the static Mandanda.
Then came Gignac’s heroics following some sustained pressure from the visitors and three valuable points for Marseille in the title race.
Former Lyon keeper Vercoutre was the main reason Marseille were unable to open the scoring earlier as the 34-year-old pulled off a string of fine saves to deny the visitors.
Gignac was denied by the Caen No 1 while Ghanaian international Andre Ayew, Florian Thauvin and Dimitri Payet also peppered the home goal as Marseille fired in 12 first half shots.
Second-placed Bordeaux slumped to a surprise 1-0 defeat at Reims on Friday, their second defeat in nine outings while there are four games later on Saturday.
On Sunday, PSG, fresh from the 3-2 victory over Barcelona in midweek Champions League action take on Monaco while Saint-Etienne await Toulouse, Guingamp meet Nantes and finally third placed Lille are on the road at seven-time champions Lyon.
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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Meghan%20podcast
%3Cp%3EMeghan%20Markle%2C%20the%20wife%20of%20Prince%20Harry%2C%20launched%20her%20long-awaited%20podcast%20Tuesday%2C%20with%20tennis%20megastar%20Serena%20Williams%20as%20the%20first%20guest.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20Duchess%20of%20Sussex%20said%20the%2012-part%20series%2C%20called%20%22Archetypes%2C%22%20--%20a%20play%20on%20the%20name%20of%20the%20couple's%20oldest%20child%2C%20Archie%20--%20would%20explore%20the%20female%20experience.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ELast%20year%20the%20couple%20told%20Oprah%20Winfrey%20that%20life%20inside%20%22The%20Firm%22%20had%20been%20miserable%2C%20and%20that%20they%20had%20experienced%20racism.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22I%20don't%20ever%20remember%20personally%20feeling%20the%20negative%20connotation%20behind%20the%20word%20ambitious%2C%20until%20I%20started%20dating%20my%20now-husband%2C%22%20she%20told%20the%20tennis%20champion.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
Student Of The Year 2
Director: Punit Malhotra
Stars: Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, Ananya Pandey, Aditya Seal
1.5 stars
