Marseille routs Zilina 7-0 in Champions League

Published Nov. 3, 2010 11:43 p.m. ET

foxsports

Marseille routed Zilina 7-0 in the biggest away victory in Champions League history on Wednesday, maintaining the French team's chance of advancing to the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Andre-Pierre Gignac opened the scoring with his first Champions League goal in the 12th minute and added two more in the 21st and 56th for a hat trick.

Lucho Gonzalez scored twice in the second half to complete the rout.

Gabriel Heinze and Loic Remy had a goal each in the first half for Marseille.

''What's of importance is that we won and got three points,'' Marseille coach Didier Deschamps said.

''Of course, it's rare to win in the Champions League by such a high score and I'm proud of it. We made an important step, but it is now important for us to win in Moscow.''

Chelsea tops the group with 12 points after beating Spartak Moscow 4-1 in the other Group F match on Wednesday and qualified for the next phase. Marseille and Spartak Moscow have six points each with two more games to play. Newcomer Zilina remained without a point and was eliminated.

''It's hard to comment,'' Zilina coach Pavel Hapal said. ''We were terrible in every aspect of the game.''

Needing a win, Marseille went on attack from the start while the Slovak champion proved harmless throughout.

Gignac, who scored only once in his previous 11 games since joining Marseille from Toulouse, deflected a Benoit Cheyrou free kick with his right knee into the net through Zilina's crowded penalty area for the opening goal.

Nine minutes later, Gignac latched onto a precise through pass from Charles Kabore before netting with a left-footer past goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

With the visitors fully in control, Heinze rose in the area to head in a corner kick from Cheyrou in the 24th.

Cheyrou again set up the fourth with a cross from the left for Remy to tap home from close range after two Zilina defenders failed to block the ball.

Marseille continued its dominance after the break with Gonzalez scoring a header off a Mathieu Valbuena cross in the 52nd to make it 5-0.

Gignac completed his hat trick four minutes later when he headed in a cross from Cesar Azpilicueta.

Gonzalez added his second with a left-foot low shot when he was left unmarked in the area in the 63rd.

Substitute striker Tomas Majtan hit the crossbar three minutes before the final whistle in a lone chance for Zilina.

Zilina can hardly hope for the first Champions League points when it travels next to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on Nov 23. Marseille makes a trip to Moscow to play Spartak next.