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MARSEILLE, France - A first-half goal from Gabriel Heinze vaulted Marseille back into the French title race on Friday, securing a 1-0 win at the Stade Velodrome over Paris St Germain.
Heinze, playing against one of his former clubs, nodded in after 25 minutes to settle a scrappy encounter between longstanding rivals in a match which had had to be rearranged from October 25 after an outbreak of swine flu at the Parisian club.
The win sent Marseille into fourth spot in the table, three points behind reigning champions Bordeaux, who face Valenciennes on Saturday while second-placed Lyon visit Grenoble.
PSG, in contrast, are just four points off the bottom four and show little sign of making any headway 15 seasons on from their last domestic crown.
The capital club have won just once in their last eight outings.
Fabrice Abriel whipped over a freekick for the goal, Heinze glancing the ball home as he nipped in ahead of teammate Souleymane Diawara.
Matches between the two clubs are always tense affairs, given the bitter rivalry between their fans, and police made 15 arrests before kickoff, a police source said.
Thirteen of those arrested were Marseille fans, detained for throwing projectiles at the PSG team bus and generally unruly behaviour.
Two away fans were also detained after windows were broken as buses converged on the Stade Velodrome.
Some 1200 police were mobilised to keep order at a match which has traditionally been classed as high-risk.
Marseille coach Didier Deschamps was delighted with the points as his club enter a key week in the Champions League, where they must try to edge out group rivals AC Milan and Real Madrid, who they trail by a single point after four group games.
Reaching the competition again next term is financially as important as getting through to the last 16 this season and Deschamps was relieved to have picked up the three points after several home matches last season saw key points dropped.
"We defended well and we had chances to get a second. Now we're just three points off the top," said the former France skipper.
"We have to keep this up - we have bags of potential."
Deschamps was particularly pleased with the clean sheet given that the team shipped five goals in their previous match at Lyon - though they also hit five in a hugely entertaining draw two weeks ago.
Marseille would have cruised through the closing stages had PSG kepeer Gregory Coupet not saved well just before the break from Mamadou Niang as the hosts sought to establish a two-goal cushion.
PSG were little in evidence in attack, save for a Mevlut Erding effort on the turn well saved by Steve Mandanda in the 38th minute.
- AFP /ls
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