m'bami hits the spot for marseille published: friday 27 february 2009, 0.15cet fc twente 0-1 olympique de marseille (agg: 1-1, om win 7-6 on pens) erik gerets's side held their nerve in the netherlands as modeste m'bami converted the 16th penalty of a tense shoot-out to book a last-16 berth.
olympique de marseille reached the uefa cup round of 16 after levelling their tie with a narrow away victory against fc twente on the night and then holding their nerve in the subsequent penalty shoot-out.
first-leg deficit the french side had come out second best in the first leg as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat but they approached the return in enschede with real tenacity. the tactic paid off when striker hatem ben arfa made it 1-1 on aggregate in the 24th minute but when neither team found a winner, it took 16 penalties to settle the contest, modeste m'bami converting the decisive spot-kick.
ben arfa pounces marseille took the game to their dutch hosts right from the start with ben arfa getting forward whenever possible and forcing a save from sander boschker in the third minute. their determination was rewarded when ben arfa fired an excellent left-footed shot beyond boschker to give marseille the early goal they craved. marko arnautovic headed straight at steve mandanda at the other end as twente were shocked into action.
spot-on m'bami mandanda had to make a more urgent save ten minutes into the second period when arnautovic again shot at goal, with the marseille keeper stretching to force it wide. twente's best effort, however, was cheik tioté's right-footed strike from the edge of the area which required a brilliant save. the match moved into extra time and became a more scrappy encounter, home substitute youssouf hersi coming closest to a clincher when he hit the post on 117 minutes. ın the shoot-out blaise nkufo missed twente's first attempt, then karim ziani squandered a chance to win it when he failed with marseille's fifth; but after m'bami tucked away marseille's seventh successful conversion in sudden death, slobodan rajković missed for twente and om were through.
