Brest grab second spot in Ligue 1, Nice slip up
Brest moved a little closer to Paris Saint-Germain with a 1-0 home win over Le Havre on Sunday, as Nice missed the chance to go third in Ligue 1 with hosts Toulouse coming from a goal down to win. A goal just after the half-hour from Pierre Lees-Melou gave Brest victory to close the gap to PSG to nine points and seal a club record 13 top-flight matches without defeat. “Very satisfied. We’ve got a bit of a lead on points, it’s good to get them now,” said Brest coach Eric Roy.
“I’m proud and happy for our team, who have made history by going 13 games unbeaten.” The win gives Brest a four-point cushion over thirdplaced Monaco, who played out a goalless draw with PSG on Friday.
Midfielder Lees-Melou slotted in Mathias Pereira Lage’s cross at the near post with 34 minutes on the clock in what was the decisive moment of a closefought match. Brest held firm in the second half to close out the three points as fatigue set in for both sides and the foul count rose.
Nice failed to hold onto a first-half lead and break back into the top three after going down 2-1 at Toulouse. Terem Moffi gave Nice the early advantage when he fired past Guillaume Restes after eight minutes.
Toulouse, who beat Monaco and Lille in their last two Ligue 1 outings, created the better chances in the second half and hit two goals in quick succession. In the 65th minute, Romain Perraud failed to cut out a pass to right wing Warren Kamanzi. He crossed for Thijs Dallinga to head his ninth goal of the season and his fourth in the last five matches.
Four minutes later, the 23-year-old Dutch striker turned supplier. He teed the ball up for Yann Gboho who swivelled round Pablo Rosario before crashing the ball past Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka, who could only get his fingertips on it, and into the roof of the net.
The win moved Toulouse up a place to tenth, leap-frogging Lyon who host Lens later on Sunday. Nice remain in fifth, missing the chance to go above Monaco and Lille. “We need to wake up,” said Nice coach Francesco Farioli, after his team failed to win for a fifth consecutive league match.
“We’re still fifth, so we’re still in a position to achieve our goals. We need to rediscover the energy we had at the start of the season.” It was the first time that Nice had lost a game after leading since May 2022 against Lille, a run of 30 matches.*
Lowly Metz picked up three points with a 2-0 win at Nantes, courtesy of two second-half goals in two minutes from Georges Mikautadze, from the spot, and Matthieu Udol. Montpellier came from behind twice to draw 2-2 with visiting Strasbourg. A brace from Arnaud Nordin, cancelled out Mouhamadou Diarra’s 47th-minute penalty and an Emanuel Emegha goal.