Marseille, Bastia draw in six-goal thriller

Marseille threw away a two-goal advantage in the second half to begin their Ligue 1 season with a 3-3 draw against Bastia.

It was the hosts who started the stronger, and they were ahead in the ninth minute thanks to a strike from Christopher Maboulou, who fired an unstoppable half-volley past Steve Mandanda from 25 yards.

Marseille were level just three minutes later when Benjamin Mendy's inviting cross was met by a powerful header from Andre-Pierre Gignac which flew into the bottom corner.

The eight-minute turnaround was completed when Bastia fell behind in unfortunate fashion, with Romaric inadvertently diverting the ball into his own net after failing to clear Florian Thauvin's weak effort.

Dimitri Payet came close to extending Marseille's advantage before the break, but his strike from the edge of the box was comfortably stopped by Alphonse Areola.

Marseille started the second half confidently, and were gifted the chance to add a third when Sebastien Squillaci handled inside the box, which allowed Gignac to score his second of the night with a calm finish from 12 yards.

However, Mendy offered Bastia a glimmer of hope just a few moments later when he pulled down Maboulou, allowing Junior Tallo to confidently convert his penalty.

Bastia capitalised on the nerves which were bringing mistakes from the Marseille defenders as Maboulou battled past three challenges inside the box before slotting past Mandanda to secure a point for Claude Makelele's side.