Ten Men Marseille shared the spoils this evening with hosts Rennes, as the Bretons failed to capitalize on the man advantage.
Ola Toivonen scored his first in nine games in the 27th minute following an impressive team move. However this was canceled out by substitute, Lucas Ocampos' glided effort into a tight angle of the goal in the 60th.
Marseille have been unfamiliar with away wins this season and they illustrated why in the opening stages of the match as they sat off the off-form Rennes. The first shot for the home side came from Pedro Henrique when he collected an Ola Toivonen pass, cut inside and shot over the bar under the pressure of the Marseille back-line.
The Brazilian winger, Henrique, tested the Les Olympiens' captain, Steve Mandada with his next shot as the French international had to scramble to parry away a powerful free kick from distance.
Rennes took advantage of their various chances in the first half and went ahead through Ola Toivonen. The unclinical Swede ended his drought with a promising team move. Sylvain Armand pinged the ball into the box, and with Vincent Pajot facing away from the goal, he headed the ball down into the path of Ola Toivonen who chested and volleyed in one motion into the bottom left of the net.
The visitors looked to get the match back to an equal footing but the Rennes defence was dealing with anything that was thrown at it. Former Rennes winger, Romain Alessandrini, summed up Marseille's play at that point when he produced a shot from the corner of the box which hit row Z.
Rennes thought they should have been awarded two penalties in quick succession. Jeremy Morel appeared to have handled the ball in a tussle for the ball in the box, but the referee waved play-on.
The next penalty call came after promising team move was intercepted by Gianelli Imbula as Doucoure was about to be played through one-on-one. Replays show that Rennes were right to be quizzical about the decision to play-on as the ball appeared to strike Imbula on the hand.
In the second half Marseille had to up their game, and managed to get the first shot. Imbula managed to pull off a side-footed effort which narrowly avoided the target.
Rennes had another chance to go ahead when Mbengue played an inviting ball across goal, but Ola Toivonen was too far to meet it. The next sequence in play had Rennes' attack three-on-two but the momentum quickly faded when poor decision making had Doucoure pass into the path of the defence.
Rennes were duly punished for not taking their chances to extend their lead as substitute Lucas Ocampos drew Marseille back level. Ocampos made a darting run to the edge of the six yard box to slide the ball from a corner past Benoit Costil with side-foot shot.
Marseille were unfortunate to go in front when Florian Thauvan dipped a cross into the six yard box, but Gignac, who rose to header, couldn't get the hight required on his leap.
The visitors were down to 10 men as Mario Lemina was given his marching orders for punching Ola Toivonen in the groin region following a scrap for the ball. Toivonen was given a yellow card for his part in the showdown between the two players.
Steve Mandanda presented Rennes with a great chance to inflict the damage on their opponents. The goalkeeper gave the ball away in a dangerous area but would count himself fortunate that the attackers never capitalized on the mistake.
Rennes resulted to counter-attacking in the last few minutes of the match- utilizing their man advantage. Substitute, Paul-Georges Ntep, slotted Armand through in the danger area but the veteran centre-back opted to cut-back to Lenjani and had his pass intercepted.
The final attack was the most unfortunate for Philippe Montanier's men- Ola Toivonen swung the ball across the box for the waiting Lenjani, but was intercepted by the slightest of touches- changing the direction of the ball as Albanian was about to pull the trigger.
Rennes next match is a trip to Toulouse, whereas Marseille play Reims at home.