PARIS: Captain Wissam Ben Yedder continued his impressive scoring form as Monaco beat Angers 2-0 in Ligue 1 on Sunday to boost their chances of reaching the Champions League next season, while second-placed Marseille stumbled to a home defeat by Lyon. Ben Yedder, 31, scored his 21st league goal of the campaign just after the hour mark to reach a career-best goals tally after Abdoul Kader Bamba scored an own goal just before the break. The Principality outfit trail third-placed Rennes on goal difference after the Bretons beat lowly Saint-Etienne 2-0 on Saturday with three matches remaining. Les Verts, who won the last of their 10 French titles in 1981, remain in the relegation play-off spot after their fourth defeat in six games. Marseille still have work to do in their bid to secure a Champions League group stage place by finishing second, after a 3-0 defeat by rivals Lyon at the Stade Velodrome. Jorge Sampaoli’s men are three points clear of the chasing pack and will be desperate to get back to winning ways next time out at Lorient. Lyon are still in with an outside chance of qualifying for Europe, sitting in seventh place, five points behind fifth-placed Nice. Teenage defender Castello Lukeba, Moussa Dembele and Karl Toko Ekambi all scored in the second half as OL blew their hosts away. Marseille welcome Feyenoord to France on Thursday in their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg, hoping to overturn a 3-2 deficit.
Bordeaux ‘not giving up’: Struggling Bordeaux lost 1-0 to Nice, whose British owner Jim Ratcliffe made a £4.25 billion ($5.3 billion) offer to buy English giants Chelsea on Friday. Algeria forward Andy Delort netted for the southerners leaving the six-time French champions in 19th, four points adrift of Saint-Etienne. Six-time French champions Bordeaux now have an almighty task ahead of them if they are to avoid slipping out of the top flight for the first time in 30 years.
Nice are now just two points behind Rennes and Monaco and still in the Champions League hunt. Elsewhere, Metz missed the chance to move off the bottom of the table despite leading 2-0 with 20 minutes to play at Montpellier. Arnaud Souquet and Elye Wahi scored for the hosts late on to deny the northerners the win as they conceded during injury time for a second time in three games. Lille’s chances of returning to European competition were dealt a blow as they ended their 3-0 loss to Troyes with only nine men. Renato Sanches was sent off five minutes into the second half with Burak Yilmaz following him in the 68th. Florian Tardieu converted two penalties either side of Ike Ugbo’s spot-kick for Troyes who are owned by the same group as Manchester City. On Friday, Kylian Mbappe, who remains the subject of transfer speculation away from the capital this summer, scored twice as champions Paris Saint-Germain drew 3-3 at Strasbourg.