Nuno Tavares marked his Marseille debut with a brilliant goal to help the French side to victory in their Ligue 1 opener against Stade Reims.
The left-back, who is under contract with Arsenal, left north London on a season-long loan deal this summer in order to play first-team football more regularly.
While his time at Marseille has only just begun, he has already established himself as a fan favourite.
With Marseille leading 1-0, the 22-year-old collected the ball on the left flank, before cutting inside at the corner of the penalty area.
Tavares then let fly with a left-footed effort that fizzled low and hard through the defense and past Patrick Pentz into the Reims net.
However, it wasn’t just his goal that impressed, with The French newspaper L’Equipe gives his performance a score of 8 out of 10a great achievement for the notoriously hard-to-please outlet.
Scoring stunners from long range wasn’t something Arsenal fans saw from the young full-back last season, but given that cracking effort some will wonder if they made a mistake in leaving him. leave.
There was another familiar face for Arsenal fans on the scoresheet, as Folarin Balogun grabbed a late consolation for Stade Reims.
After emerging as a second-half substitute, Balogun found the net with a typical poacher’s effort as he headed in from inside the box after a cross from the right flank.
Unlike Tavares, Balogun is renowned in North London for his ability to find the back of the net, but the 21-year-old young striker is focused on playing regular first-team football and, more importantly, the back of the net .
The striker endured a mixed loan spell with Middlesbrough last season in which he scored just three times in 21 appearances, so the hope will be that a season in League 1 will see him return to the giants. Premier League a much more complete player.
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