PARIS: Marseille scraped into the semi-finals of the French Cup on Thursday as a Michy Batshuayi goal secured a 1-0 win against fifth-tier minnows Granville in Normandy.
The Belgian striker, Marseille’s leading scorer, struck five minutes into the second half, applying a first-time finish to Benjamin Mendy’s low ball into the box from the left.
That broke the resistance of their amateur opponents, who fought gamely throughout a quarter-final tie played at the Stade Michel-d’Ornano, home of Caen, Normandy’s only top-flight representatives.
Granville, from a small town on the Channel coast, were forced to move the tie 100 kilometres away to Caen because their ground was deemed unsuitable for a tie that attracted a crowd of 20,000.
They rarely looked like scoring, but they made life difficult for their opponents, who saw Florian Thauvin come close twice in the first half.
Batshuayi was denied by an excellent Jeremy Aymes save just before he got the goal, and Marseille held on to set up a last-four tie in April away to Ligue 2 strugglers Sochaux, who eliminated Nantes 3-2 after extra time on Wednesday.
