Marseille win keeps pressure on Lens, troy es relegated in ligue 1
PARIS: Dimitri Payet made the most of a rare start this season to score as Marseille beat relegated Angers 3-1, keeping pressure on Lens in the race for second place and an automatic Champions League spot as Troyes’ relegation fate was sealed in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
Marseille came from behind at home to beat botom club Angers 3-1 to move to within two points of second-placed Lens.
Goals from Alexis Sanchez, Dimitri Payet and Jordan Veretout’s penalty proved the perfect riposte to last week’s defeat to Lens ater Abdallah Sima’s goal had given the visitors early hope of an upset at the Velodrome.
Earlier, Clermont also came from a goal down to beat Lyon 2-1. Alexandre Lacazete gave Lyon the lead ater 22 minutes but Grejohn Kyei levelled from the penalty spot three minutes later.
Kyei neted his second ater 65 minutes to lit Clermont up to eighth, just three points behind Lyon whose hopes of European football next season appear to be over.
“It’s a big disappointment,” said Lyon coach Laurent Blanc. “As for Europe, it’s all over.”
At Rennes there was an emotional homage to Soldin, who was killed covering the Ukraine war for AFP on Tuesday.
Soldin’s mother and brother live in the western city and Rennes held the tribute to his memory before the Breton club’s home match with Troyes.
Nantes occupy the fourth drop spot ater a goalless draw at Toulouse which let them one point behind Auxerre, who lost 1-0 at Brest.
At the top, Paris Saint-germain closed in on a record 11th French league title on Saturday with a 5-0 home win over Ajaccio. PSG need four points from their final three games -- against Auxerre, Strasbourg and Clermont -- to secure the Ligue 1 title ater restoring their six-point lead over second-placed Lens. The weekend’s action was also marked by several players refusing to participate in a campaign against homophobia.
All teams in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 wore shirts featuring numbers in rainbow colours as part of the initiative. The captains’ armbands were similarly coloured. Toulouse’s Zakaria Aboukhlal and Nantes’ Mostafa Mohamed were omited from the teamsheet for the 0-0 draw ater both reportedly objected to wearing the jersey.
Guingamp’s Senegalese defender Donatien Gomis ruled himself out of the Ligue 2 clash with Sochaux on Saturday for the same reason, club sources there said.