Champions League Group F wrap: Marseille win, trouble in Zilina

Marseille upset Chelsea while crowd trouble marred MSK Zilina’s clash with Spartak Moscow in Group F Champions League action on Wednesday.

Out of form and with just two wins from their last seven matches in all competitions, Chelsea headed to France and named an almost full-strength side despite the fact they had already qualified and could not be headed at the top of the group.

But Carlo Ancelotti’s men again failed to fire, losing 1-0 at the Stade Velodrome to an inspired Marseille side.

The hosts were desperately unlucky not to take the lead early when Mathieu Valbuena’s long-distance shot smashed into the bar, while Brandao went close just after.

Argentine left-back Gabriel Heinze had a goal disallowed by the linesman while Chelsea’s best opportunities came from penalty appeals.

Florent Malouda thought he had won a penalty for the Londoners when Souleymane Diawara clearly fouled him, but the referee’s initial decision to win a spot-kick was overruled after he spoke with his linesman.

Chelsea could have had another penalty when Diawara fouled Kalou, but none was given – and ultimately the French side made them pay in the second half.

Just moments after Jose Bosingwa was taken off due to a hamstring injury, Brandao scored the all-important goal that booked the hosts passage into the Round of 16.

A Taye Taiwo deflected shot fell perfectly for Brandao and with defenders Branislav Ivanovic and Jeffrey Bruma out of position, the striker composed himself before finishing from close range.

In Zilina, referee Kevin Blom halted the game three minutes in after the travelling Spartak Moscow fans threw flares onto the pitch.

Fans also invaded the pitch before the Spartak squad approached their 400 travelling supporters and appeared to remonstrate with them.

The game finally got under way 15 minutes after the initial delay and Spartak had the best of the early chances.

But it took until the second half for the goals to start coming, with the Russians emerging from Slovakia with all three points after a 2-1 victory.

Zilina, pointless and goalless in the group stage so far, finally gave their fans something to cheer about when Tomas Majtan opened the scoring just three minutes after the break.

After conceding 15 goals in their five group matches, Zilina’s defence has clearly been leaky. Spartak, unperturbed by conceding first, fought back strongly.

Nikola Drincic set up Alex for a 54th-minute equaliser and he turned provider seven minutes later, laying off for Ibson to cap the comeback just 13 minutes after Zilina took the lead.

The match was a spiteful contest that Blom battled to control, with seven yellow cards and a straight red card issued to scorer of the winner, Ibson, setting up a nervy finish for the visitors.

But Zilina could not find a late equaliser, meaning they finished the group stage pointless and having scored just once.

The victory for Spartak Moscow means they finished third and booked a spot in the Round of 32 in the Europa League.