Late David double keeps Lille top of French League
PARIS: Canadian forward Jonathan David’s late double helped Lille edge out Marseille 2-0 on Wednesday to remain two points clear of Paris Saint-germain at the top of Ligue 1.
Mauricio Pochetino’s depleted reigning champions stayed second with a 1-0 victory at Bordeaux, with Lyon one point further back ater beating Rennes by the same scoreline.
Fourth-placed Monaco slipped to seven points off the pace as the Principality club lost 1-0 at Strasbourg.
Christophe Galtier’s Lille extended their unbeaten run to 10 league matches but were frustrated by eighth-placed Marseille at the Stade Pierre-mauroy for almost 90 minutes.
David and Timothy Weah both saw secondhalf atempts saved by Steve Mandanda.
But when the Marseille goalkeeper kept out Jonathan Ikone’s effort in the 90th minute, David was on hand to tap in.
The 21-year-old put the result beyond doubt in the third minute of added time, diverting home Ikone’s cross to score his ninth league goal this term.
Lille visit Monaco in their next Ligue 1 match in 11 days’ time as they continue their bid for a first major trophy since winning the league and French Cup double in 2011.
PSG brushed off the absences of Neymar, the suspended Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria to keep up the pressure.
With in-form striker Moise Kean also out ater testing positive for coronavirus, it was let to Pablo Sarabia to score the winning goal.
The Spaniard, making his first league start in a month, grabbed the breakthrough in the 20th minute. PSG were relatively comfortable for the remainder of the game, although Bordeaux winger Hatem Ben Arfa did fire narrowly wide midway through the second half.
PSG will be hoping to have their injured players back for next week’s Champions League last-16 second leg against Barcelona.
Earlier on Wednesday, Houssem Aouar’s second-half strike clinched Lyon a home win over Rennes.
French League results on Wednesday:
Brest 3 ( Honorat 17, Mounie 27, Cardona 40) Dijon 1 (Assale 29)
Lyon 1 ( Aouar 74) Rennes 0
Metz 0 Angers 1 (Fulgini 44-pen)
Nice 2 (Gouiri 4, Claude-maurice 75) Nimes 1 (Landre 50)
Saint-etienne 2 (Moukoudi 40, Bouanga 90+4pen) Lens 3 ( Sotoca 20-pen, Kalimuendo 24, Costa 90+3)
Bordeaux 0 Paris Saint-germain 1 ( Sarabia 20) Lille 2 ( David 90, 90+3) Marseille 0 Montpellier 1 (Mavididi 28) Lorient 1 (Grbic 9-pen) Nantes 1 (Simon 14) Reims 2 (Konan 39, Abdelhamid 89)
Strasbourg 1 (Guilbert 90+1) Monaco 0