Marseille looks for a fourth straight win and Ligue 1 leader PSG visits Lille

PARIS (AP) — Resurgent Marseille aims for a fourth straight Ligue 1 win when it travels to rock-bottom Metz on Saturday while high-flying Lyon also looks to maintain an impressive start.

Marseille's win against defending champion Paris Saint-Germain last week seems to have galvanized coach Roberto De Zerbi's side, which is playing the free-flowing soccer the club's demanding fans want. He described Marseille's scintillating first-half performance in Tuesday's 4-0 win against Ajax in the Champions League as “close to perfection.”

After winning at Barcelona 2-1 on Wednesday, PSG faces a tough trip to Lille on Sunday.

Injury-hit PSG travels to play a Lille side which has a point to prove.

Lille's bright start to the season has nosedived after two straight defeats. Furthermore, Lille failed to score in both games and wasted a flurry of chances in last Sunday's 1-0 home defeat to Lyon.

Lyon's future looked bleak when it was demoted to Ligue 2 for financial irregularities, only to have the decision overturned on appeal. Still, Lyon had to sell forward Georges Mikautadze to balance the books, and few observers made Lyon a contender.

However, Lyon is level with PSG at the top heading into Sunday's home game against Toulouse and looks for a sixth win in seven games. Lyon has allowed only three goals, one less than PSG.

Monaco faces Nice in the Riviera derby on Sunday with both sides proving inconsistent. Fourth-placed Monaco has scored 14 times but leaked 10 while 12th-placed Nice has netted just seven times and lost three games.

Marseille winger Igor Paixão scored two well-taken goals against Ajax, his first goals since joining from Feyenoord in a deal that could rise to 35 million euros ($40.6 million). Paixão scored 18 goals in 47 games last season and was voted the Dutch player of the season.

Tanner Tessmann is becoming a key player in Lyon's midfield. The United States international has netted twice and provides valuable cover for a defense which has kept five clean sheets.

Veteran Olivier Giroud has made a bright start at Lille with three goals. But the 39-year-old striker looked weary against Lyon and Lille needs him at his best against PSG.

PSG remains without injured club captain Marquinhos and star forwards Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué.

PSG coach Luis Enrique is awaiting further news over midfielder João Neves. Although he was selected against Barcelona after missing two games with a thigh injury, Neves was replaced moments before the start.

Meanwhile, Lille coach Bruno Genesio is suspended for one game following his red card against Lyon. He kicked at a bunch of water bottles and yelled that the match officials were “all rubbish."

Strasbourg striker Emanuel Emegha's residence was reportedly burgled last Friday while he was playing against Marseille, and 200,000 euros ($235,000) worth of goods were stolen.

The theft took place in the same apartment complex where former Strasbourg striker Kevin Gameiro was also burgled last year. According to Le Parisien newspaper, two people have been arrested in connection with the two thefts.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Lyon's Tanner Tessmann, centre, in action during the French League One soccer match between Olympique Lyon and Angers at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

PSG's head coach Luis Enrique, center, kicks the ball during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

PSG's Warren Zaire-Emery, left, challenges for the ball with Marseille's Igor Paixao during the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain at Orange Velodrome in Marseille, France, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)

Marseille's head coach Roberto De Zerbi, centre, Marseille's Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, left, Marseille's Matt O'Riley celebrate their victory after the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain at Orange Velodrome in Marseille, France, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)

HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.

Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.

Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.

The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.

State television also showed images of what it said were more than a dozen wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. A man identified in state media as Col. Pedro Domínguez attended Thursday's ceremony in a wheelchair.

He said it was a “disproportionate attack” that killed 11 colleagues around him as they slept. Domínguez said he was committed to doing “whatever it takes to defend this people and to remain united in the face of threats from the United States.”

Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.

Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.

Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.

“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.

The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.

Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.

“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”

The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.

Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.

“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.

In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.

In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.

In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.

The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.

“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”

The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.

Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.

But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.

“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”

Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”

Rodríguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”

Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)

A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)