PARIS (AP) — French league leader Marseille travels to fourth-placed Lens on Saturday for a matchup between two sides combining defensive solidity with attacking flair.
Chasing a first Ligue 1 title since 2010, nine-time champion Marseille has delivered a strong start to the season and boasts the league's best attack and defense — 21 goals scored and just seven conceded.
Click to Gallery
Marseille's Michael Murillo, left, challenges for the ball with Sporting's Maximiliano Araujo during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Sporting CP and Marseille in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Marseille's head coach Roberto De Zerbi greets Michael Murillo after the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Sporting CP and Marseille in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
PSG's Ousmane Dembele celebrates after scoring his side's sixth goal during a Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Paris Saint-Germain in Leverkusen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Marseille's Igor Paixao makes an attempt to score past Sporting's Geovany Quenda, centre, and Sporting's Ivan Fresneda during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Sporting CP and Marseille in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Lens, meanwhile, shares the league's best defensive record. It has scored fewer goals than Marseille (12), but the addition this summer of 2018 World Cup winner Florian Thauvin and Odsonne Édouard have significantly strengthened Pierre Sage's attacking options. The former Lyon coach will manage his 50th Ligue 1 match against Marseille.
Marseille heads north after seeing its five-game winning streak in all competitions snapped midweek with a 2-1 Champions League defeat at Sporting.
Following years of Paris Saint-Germain dominance, this season has been as tight as it gets. After eight rounds, just four points separate Marseille from seventh-placed Monaco.
PSG, which demolished Bayer Leverkusen 7-2 in midweek Champions League action, remains the heavy favorite to retain its title despite trailing Marseille by one point.
Returning from injury, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé scored against the German side and is expected to be back on the domestic stage when PSG visits 12th-placed Brest on Saturday.
Third-placed Strasbourg plays at Lyon on Sunday and Lille hosts bottom club Metz.
PSG midfielder Senny Mayulu, who came off the bench to score his team's final goal in the Champions League final, shows no signs of slowing down.
The 19-year-old midfielder, who broke into the first team during the 2023–2024 campaign, has continued to grow in influence this season, starting all three of PSG's Champions League matches.
Despite a minor thigh injury earlier this month that kept him from joining the France Under-21 squad, Mayulu was decisive last week, rescuing a 3-3 draw for PSG against Strasbourg.
Sent off for the second time this season during Metz’s 4–0 defeat to Toulouse, Sadibou Sané has been handed a three-match suspension by the league's disciplinary commission for a dangerous challenge on Cristian Cásseres.
The Metz defender had already been banned for three matches following his straight red card against Paris FC in August.
Lille president Olivier Létang has been handed a one-match suspension and a further two suspended matches by the disciplinary commission for his remarks against referees.
After Lille’s 1–0 defeat to Lyon last month, Letang said there was a deep-rooted problem with refereeing in France. "Every weekend, in almost every match, there are problems. And the issue is that there’s no dialogue. The people at the head of the French Football Federation don’t have the skills to manage what’s needed,” he said.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Marseille's Michael Murillo, left, challenges for the ball with Sporting's Maximiliano Araujo during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Sporting CP and Marseille in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Marseille's head coach Roberto De Zerbi greets Michael Murillo after the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Sporting CP and Marseille in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
PSG's Ousmane Dembele celebrates after scoring his side's sixth goal during a Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Paris Saint-Germain in Leverkusen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Marseille's Igor Paixao makes an attempt to score past Sporting's Geovany Quenda, centre, and Sporting's Ivan Fresneda during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Sporting CP and Marseille in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP) — A construction crane collapsed onto an elevated road near Bangkok, killing two people on Thursday, a day after another crane fell on a moving passenger train in northeastern Thailand and killed 32 people.
The work on an extension of the Rama 2 Road expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has become notorious for construction accidents, some of them fatal.
The crane collapsed at part of the road project in Samut Sakhon province, trapping two vehicles in the wreckage, according to the government’s Public Relations Department.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Thai TV Channel 7 that two people had died. It was unclear if anyone else had been trapped in the wreckage.
There was uncertainty about the number of victims because the site is still considered too dangerous for search teams to enter, said Suchart Tongteng, a rescue worker with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation.
“At this moment, we still can’t say whether another collapse could happen,” he said, citing dangling steel plates. “That’s why there are no rescue personnel inside the scene, only teams conducting on-site safety assessments.”
At the site of Wednesday's train derailment, the search for survivors ended, Nakhon Ratchasima Gov. Anuphong Suksomnit said. Three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have gotten off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.
Officials believed 171 people had been aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene Thursday.
The crane that fell, crushing part of the train, was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.
Police were still collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses and have not pressed charges, provincial Police Chief Narongsak Promta told reporters.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry reported a South Korean man in his late 30s, was among the dead.
The high-speed rail project where the accident occurred is associated with the plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would pay compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
Transport Minister Phiphat said Italthai was also the lead contractor on the highway project where Thursday's accident took place, though several other companies are also involved.
The rail accident had already sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction last March during a major earthquake centered in Myanmar. The building's collapse was the worst quake damage in Thailand and about 100 people were killed.
Twenty-three individuals and companies have been indicted, including Italthai's president and the local director for the company China Railway No. 10, the project’s joint venture partner. The charges in the case include professional negligence and document forgery, and Thailand's Department of Special Investigation has recommended more indictments.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday the government was aware of the rail accident and had expressed condolences.
Associated Press writers Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
Relatives of victims and others wait at a hospital, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Relatives wait at a hospital to receive bodies of victims, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Forensic workers inspect the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A cuddly toy lies on the ground at the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
