De Zerbi 'suffered a lot' during Marseille's late win over Monaco

Roberto De Zerbi stressed that he "suffered a lot" despite seeing his Marseille side move into the top three of Ligue 1 with a 1-0 victory over Monaco on Sunday. 

In what was an end-to-end encounter that saw Monaco have two goals ruled out for offside, Mason Greenwood struck the winner with eight minutes of the match remaining. 

Indeed, Greenwood has now been involved in 40 Ligue 1 goals with Marseille (32 goals, eight assists), at least nine more than any other player since his debut last season. 

The result continued Marseille's good form at Orange Velodrome. They have won 14 league matches at home in 2025 (D3 L1), their highest total in a single year since 2014 (15). 

Marseille also scored 56 home goals in Ligue 1 in 2025, the third-highest total in their history in a year in the top-flight, behind 1948 (69) and 1971 (62). 

And while they put an end to their two-game winless run in the league, De Zerbi was still ruing his team's dropped points earlier in the campaign, which would have put them in a stronger position in the standings. 

"A very nice match to watch at home. I suffered a lot. We could have won and lost. We feel tired. We were pretty good against a good Monaco team," De Zerbi told reporters.

"We performed well in the Champions League and Ligue 1. In the first 20 minutes, we could score and make the break. They can do the same. I congratulate them.

"They're a great team. [Geronimo] Rulli was very good; the saves from [Timothy] Weah and [Nayef] Aguerd helped us. We played with courage. I think there are situations that we need to defend better.

"The offside was played closely; there were times when it fell in our direction. He's disappeared a little bit, but Mason has moments.

"I want to take him out of the game, but he's a player who can make you win at any time. He almost scored before.

"I'm more disappointed to have lost points against Angers and Toulouse than to be happy to be third."

For Monaco, meanwhile, they have now lost five of their last six Ligue 1 matches (W1), which is as many defeats as in their previous 23 (W13 D5).

Indeed, since the beginning of November, only Nantes (two) and Nice (0) have taken fewer points than Sebastien Pocognoli's team (three) in the top-flight.

But they had their chances. Folarin Balogun and Lamine Camara had goals ruled out for offside, while Mika Biereth was denied late on by Nayef Aguerd's last-ditch tackle.

Monaco ended the game with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.1 from their 18 attempts to Marseille's 1.9 from the same number of shots they managed in the match. 

Pocognoli's side are now ninth in the table and four points adrift of the European places, though the Monaco boss believed his side were worthy of at least a point on Sunday. 

"We are disappointed, very disappointed. I was after Rennes, after Paris FC, but above all, because we had to look at ourselves, make a big self-criticism of the content," he said.

"Today, I'm disappointed because I think my players deserved much better. Now, we'll see how to manage it.

"Because we're going to have to use it to rebel and continue to put in good performances like today, or we'll try to look for excuses and get around this great performance.

"In terms of attitude, the way I approach the match, I'm very proud."