The Stade Vélodrome expects to bend visitors to its will, but on this Sunday afternoon it was one man who bent the game to his. Lassine Sinayoko scored inside the opening minute, again on nineteen, and then, with the clock winding down and the roar rising in hope, buried a penalty to snatch a 3-2 win for Paris FC and leave Marseille shattered on their own turf.

It was a match of ceaseless momentum, four goals shared before the hour and a fifth to settle it, a contest that never stood still long enough for either side to feel comfortable. Marseille twice hauled themselves level through Amine Gouiri, and twice found Sinayoko waiting to answer. In the end the visitors had the sharper edge, the cooler head and the man of the moment.

For Paris FC this was a statement, a first away raid on one of the country's grand stages turned into three points and a place near the summit. For Marseille, ninth becomes tenth in feel if not entirely in fact, and the questions about a home ground that no longer terrifies grow louder by the week.

An early ambush

There was barely time to settle before the afternoon lurched sideways. Inside the first minute Luca Koleosho slipped the ball through and Sinayoko took it in his stride, a left-footed finish from the centre of the box that flew clean into the middle of the goal. The Vélodrome, primed for a coronation, was stunned into a low murmur before the noise had even properly begun.

Marseille, to their credit, did not flinch. By the eighth minute they were level, Gouiri swivelling in the box and lashing a right-footed strike into the bottom right corner. It was the response the home crowd craved, a reminder of the firepower that has carried them this far, and for a moment the balance seemed restored.

But this was Sinayoko's day, and he was not done. On nineteen minutes Pablo Pagis swung over a cross from a corner and the striker rose to head into the bottom right corner. The celebration was paused for a VAR review, the tension stretched taut, and then confirmed. Paris FC led again, and the visitors had already twice pierced a defence that should have known better.

Gouiri keeps hope alive

Half-time offered Marseille a chance to regroup, and they emerged with intent. Eight minutes into the second half they were level once more, and again it was Gouiri who provided the moment. Amine Harit threaded the pass, and the forward met it from the right side of the six-yard box, arcing a right-footed finish into the top left corner. It was a striker's goal, all instinct and precision, and the Vélodrome believed again.

At 2-2 the game hung in a delicate equilibrium, both sides sensing that the next goal would likely decide everything. Marseille pushed, their crowd urging them forward, the sense growing that a comeback complete would restore some pride to a stuttering start. Gouiri, with two to his name, looked the likeliest man to steal it.

Yet for all their pressure, Marseille could not find the killing blow. The chances came and went, the tension climbed, and Paris FC held their shape with the discipline of a side unbeaten and full of belief. The longer the deadlock held, the more it favoured the visitors' composure.

The decisive spot-kick

With four minutes of normal time remaining, the game found its final twist. Paris FC won a penalty, and there was only ever going to be one man to take it. Sinayoko stepped up, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and rolled his right-footed effort into the bottom left corner. Hat-trick complete, victory secured, and the Vélodrome drained of its noise in an instant.

It was a finish of ruthless calm from a striker who had tormented Marseille from the very first whistle. Three goals, each one arriving at a moment of maximum consequence, each one puncturing the home side's hopes just as they gathered. Sinayoko will remember this afternoon for a long time, and so, for less happy reasons, will the men who could not stop him.

Marseille had no time to muster a reply. The final whistle came with the home crowd already streaming towards the exits, a result absorbed and a start to the season that now looks decidedly fragile. Paris FC, meanwhile, celebrated a win that felt like a coming of age.

What it means

The table tells the story starkly. Paris FC move to seven points from three games, unbeaten with two wins and a draw, sitting second and looking every inch a side to be reckoned with. Six goals scored and only two conceded before this afternoon, they now add three more away from home against opposition of real pedigree. The momentum is theirs, and the belief that comes with it.

For Marseille, the picture is troubling. Three points from three matches, a single win and now two defeats, and a goal difference that has slipped into the red. Tenth is no place for a club of their ambitions, and the manner of this loss, so much of it self-inflicted, will sting deepest. A ground that once cowed opponents has now conceded five in three home outings this campaign.

The forward line, at least, offers hope. Gouiri's brace was proof that the goals will come, that the attacking talent is present and firing. The task now is to build something behind it, to stop conceding early and often, to turn spirited comebacks into results. On this evidence Paris FC have found their rhythm early; Marseille are still searching for theirs.