Mason Greenwood is "making a difference" for Roberto De Zerbi's Marseille amid their strong start to the Ligue 1 season, says the club's chief executive, Pablo Longoria.
Greenwood joined Marseille on a permanent deal from Manchester United in July, having spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Getafe.
Greenwood had not appeared for United since he was arrested and suspended by the club in January 2022. The forward was later charged with attempted rape and assault, which he denied, with the charges dropped in early 2023 following the withdrawal of key witnesses.
He has scored five times in his first three Ligue 1 appearances for Marseille, becoming just the second player to achieve that feat in the last 50 seasons of the French top flight, after Nice's Mario Balotelli in 2016.
He scored an 81-second brace in the first half of a 3-1 win at Toulouse prior to the international break, lifting Marseille to seven points from their first three games.
While Marseille's move for the 22-year-old drew criticism from many onlookers, Longoria has been impressed by his impact on the pitch.
Speaking at the Thinking Football Summit organised by Liga Portugal, Longoria told Stats Perform: "He's a great player. He's making a difference.
"If you're asking all the players, all the people that are in the day-to-day with the team, they can tell you that his level is amazing and we are really happy having him.
"We are really happy about the start of the season he is doing and the behaviour he's having with us in Marseille."
Marseille pulled off what many saw as a coup to appoint De Zerbi as their new head coach ahead of this season, following his surprise exit from Brighton.
Longoria believes the Italian has been a seamless fit at the Stade Velodrome, saying: "What I appreciated was the firmness of Roberto de Zerbi in all the conversations and the connection that he has created with us since the first day.
"This is the biggest satisfaction that I can say, and I'm very thankful to the coach for how he's adapting himself to the project."
Marseille are currently second in the Ligue 1 standings, two points behind champions Paris Saint-Germain, who lost Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid ahead of the new campaign.
While Longoria believes Marseille's project is one for the medium-to-long term, he refuses to put a limit on their ambitions for 2024-25.
"They are having a great start to the season as well, to be honest. Our objective is to build a project over three years. That is the number one," he said of PSG.
"Second, we are really happy with how we started this season. Our goal has to be in the Champions League and improve our level.
"After that, let's see what the competition will put on us. We need to be ambitious, but at the same time, we need to be realistic as well. I'm not saying that we cannot compete.
"I'm asking for a bit of patience because this is a three-year project, and we really want to improve each day, each week, and each game day. We need to improve our level."
Scotland 0-0 Portugal: Tartan Army eke out first point of Nations League
Scotland have their first point of their 2024-25 Nations League campaign, having held Portugal to a 0-0 draw at Hampden Park.
The match itself was not a great spectacle with limited chances either way, as Cristiano Ronaldo's 200th start for Portugal ultimately ending in disappointment.
It was a performance of grit over style for Steve Clarke's side, though, who managed just three shots during the match.
Portugal came closest to finding the net, with Craig Gordon getting down expertly to stop Bruno Fernandes slotting home from a Rafael Leao cutback in the 87th minute.
The draw leaves Scotland bottom of Nations League Group A1, although their first point means the gap to third-placed Poland stays at three points ahead of the two meeting in the November international break.
Portugal, meanwhile, are top of the standings on 10 points and know a point from their remaining two games will seal their progression to the quarter-finals, after maintaining their three-point buffer to second-placed Croatia following their 3-3 draw with Poland.
Data Debrief: Scotland ruin Ronaldo's landmark appearance
After scoring in each of Roberto Martinez’s first 12 competitive matches in charge of Portugal, the Selecao have since drawn a blank in four of their last seven matches under the Spaniard.
Portugal attempted 715 passes tonight - their highest number in this Nations League campaign, with their 14 attempts the lowest they have managed in the competition this term, ending the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.52.
Scotland, meanwhile, are now winless in their last 10 competitive matches (D4 L6), their longest-ever run without a competitive victory, though they managed to keep a clean sheet against a team above them in the FIFA rankings for the first time since a 2-0 win over Spain in 2023.
Spain 3-0 Serbia: Dominant Roja through to quarter-finals
Spain cruised into the Nations League quarter-finals after Tuesday's comfortable 3-0 victory over Serbia.
Luis de la Fuente's side eased to a routine win in Cordoba, qualifying for the knockout stages with two games to spare after Switzerland's 2-2 draw with Denmark guaranteed Spain a top-two spot in their group.
Aymeric Laporte opened the scoring after just five minutes, heading into the far corner after a well-worked corner routine allowed Pedro Porro space to deliver.
Mikel Merino's header from Alex Baena's cross was denied by the post soon after, before Spain missed a glorious chance to extend their lead after the interval.
Porro's vicious shot was adjudged to have been handled by Veljko Birmancevic, but Alvaro Morata blazed over with a disappointing 54th-minute penalty.
Captain Morata made amends just 11 minutes later, however, finishing with ease into the bottom corner after Fabian Ruiz profited on Serbia's slack attempts to play out from defence.
Further misery followed for Serbia as Strahinja Pavlovic's last-man challenge on Mikel Oyarzabal was upgraded to a red card following a VAR review, before Baena curled the resulting free-kick past Predrag Rajkovic to seal another Roja win.
Data Debrief: Unbeaten run continues for rampant Roja
De la Fuente masterminded Spain's Euro 2024 triumph, with the best team deservedly triumphing at the tournament in Germany, but La Roja's impressive run started well before that.
Spain are now unbeaten in their last 19 matches across all competitions (W17 D2), excluding friendlies, their best such streak since a 29-game run between June 2010 and June 2013 (W24 D5).
This was a typically dominant performance from the hosts, who accumulated 2.9 expected goals (xG) compared to Serbia's meagre 0.37, as the away side struggled throughout.
Poland 3-3 Croatia: Szymanski leveller keeps hosts' qualification hopes alive
Poland kept their hopes of reaching the Nations League quarter-finals alive after battling back for a 3-3 draw against 10-man Croatia on Tuesday.
Michal Probierz's side know they must win both of their last two matches in November to stand a chance of finishing in the top two, with Croatia missing the chance to go within a point of Group A3 leaders Portugal after their goalless draw with Scotland.
Poland took the lead in the fifth minute when Piotr Zielinski's effort deflected off Martin Erlic and beyond Dominik Livakovic, only for Borna Sosa to restore parity soon after.
The visitors then silenced Stadion Narodowy with two goals in quick succession, as Petar Sucic fired into the far corner before turning provider for Martin Baturina's first senior international goal.
But the first-half scoring was not finished there, with Nicola Zalewski taking advantage of some poor Croatia defending to reduce the arrears on the stroke of half-time.
Robert Lewandowski entered the fray just after the hour, and made an instant impact to help level the scores six minutes after his introduction, teeing up Sebastian Szymanski, who curled past Livakovic.
An enthralling encounter took another twist with 14 minutes remaining when Livakovic was sent off for a high challenge on Lewandowski after clearing the ball, but Poland were unable to take advantage of their one-man advantage.
Data Debrief: Poland halt Croatia hoodoo
While Poland failed to take advantage of Livakovic's dismissal, they ended a run of three consecutive defeats against Croatia, though their last victory against them came in 2006.
The hosts will be disappointed not to have tested Livakovic's replacement Nediljko Labrovic, with Kacper Urbanski sending the only efforts on his goal off target in the closing stages.
Poland managed an expected goals (xG) total of 1.25 from their 14 shots compared to Croatia's 1.39 from 15 attempts, with the home side's attacking threat led by Szymanski, who created more chances (three) than any other player on the pitch.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
