Ayew shines in Marseille win

Ghana international Andre 'Dede' Ayew played the full throttle as Olympic Marseille cruised to a hard fought 3-2 win over Montpellier at the Stade de la Mosson on Friday evening.

The Ghanaian came close to put the visitors ahead after just five minutes when he was given an assist by Valbuena through a corner kick but his header went off the post.

Ayew had another chance midway through the first half and this time he hit the target but goalkeeper Geoffrey Jourdren's save was good as his shot. Ayew then played Valbuena through and the striker perfectly finished it off with a lob over onrushing Jourdren with four minutes remaining in the first half.

Montpellier leveled two minutes after the break when Anthony Mounier and Garry Bocaly combined to find Remy Cabella who volleyed home the much-awaited equaliser. Olympic Marseille restored their lead 10 minutes later when Saber Khalifa’s cross took a touch off Mounier and fell for Andre Piere Gignac who after cutting inside, fired home to send OM ahead once more in the second half.

The home side restored parity yet again with 11 minutes remaining after Cabella's shot was saved by OM goalkeeper Steve Mandana but Morgan Sanson was on hand to easily tap home the rebound. M'Baye Niang was presented with a golden opportunity to head Montpellier into the lead for the first time in the game but his header was wide to the surprise of the home fans. OM responded minutes later and stole all the three points when the game seemed to end in a draw as substitute Dimitri Payet danced his way through the home sides' defenders only for his shot to take a wicked deflection off Hilton and looped over Joudren and into the net to win the game for the visitors.

The win moves Marseille to within four points off St Etienne in fourth to enhance their Europa League target next season.

Meanwhile, in the German Bundesliga, Kelvin-Prince Boateng played 82 minutes but countryman Anthony Annan was an unused substitute as Schalke 04 took yet another step to secure Champions League slot for next season after defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 at the Veltins-Arena on Friday evening.

Teenager Maximilian Meyer opened the scoring after 56 minutes before substitute Jefferson Farfan added the cushion in stoppage-time with a pin point free kick to bagged the three points for the Royal Blues, who have now extended their unbeaten run to seven games.

In the Swedish Allsvenskanliga, Kwame ‘Conte' Bonsu played the full throttle as Mjallby succumbed to a 2-0 home defeat to Djurgarden. Amadou Jawo drew the first blood for the visitors in the 55th minute before Erton Fejzullahu added the second 13 minutes later as Mjallby suffered their second defeat within four days.