AT NICE

Paris title hopes dented after defeat and two red cards

PARIS one back.

Anastasios Donis scored Nice’s third in the 90th minute, in between red cards for Thiago Motta and Angel Di Maria.

Tempers had flared several times before that, with PSG forward Edinson Cavani in the thick of the trouble.

Nice went ahead in the 26th minute after Ricardo Pereira broke out of his half and charged down the right.

He seemed to have run into a dead end but turned back and laid the ball off to Balotelli, who held off Marco Verratti and curled a low shot under Kevin Trapp’s hands and into the corner from 20 metres for his 14th goal of the season.

Shortly afterwards, there was a flare-up when Paul Baysee and Cavani tangled in the Nice penalty area but the referee let the feuding pair off with a warning.

Nice extended their lead three minutes after halftime, Pereira cutting inside and curling the ball past Trapp after Younis Belhanda had led a quick counter-attack.

That was followed by more trouble, firstly when Cavani pushed Nice coach Lucien Favre out of the way to retrieve the ball and then when Balotelli angered Blaise Matuidi