Marseille put Rouen away 5-1 in the Ligue Magnus on 22 September 2026, a result that leaves both sides level at zero points after three games. We'd backed the visitors at 63 per cent confidence, but the match went the other way entirely. Sometimes a prediction simply meets a day that doesn't want to cooperate.
Rouen had looked sharp coming in, beating Grenoble 5-1 just four days earlier. Marseille's recent run told a different story — a heavy 4-0 defeat to Briançon followed by a 3-1 win over Sergi-Pontoise. The form book suggested Rouen, but the ice told another tale.
By then the hosts were already moving. They didn't wait for the visitors to settle, threw everything at it from the opening shift, and found answers where we expected none. Rouen came in with momentum and left with a lesson.
The scoreboard said 5-1, but the gap widened in stretches that didn't make the highlights. Marseille stretched the back line, switched off at a set piece, and felt the pressure when it mattered. Rouen ran riot in one period, then the wheels came off.
Both clubs sit on zero points in the table after three matches — not much to read into that yet. Marseille move into fourth place, Rouen drop to eighth. The standings haven't settled, but today's result shifted something.
We gave our number. It was wrong. The match decided itself on the ice, not in a spreadsheet. That's the thing about watching sport — you can predict the shape of it, but not the shape of the day.
